Free From the Puppet Master
by Soberman
Summary: A simple life was the one that Matthew Fox had lived. That simple life was thrown away, however, when he met a strange rich man. Now thrown into a world he thought only to be fictional. How will he survive? Semi Self-Insert, OC.
1. Chapter 1

**So… Uh… Another new story!... And cue the crickets…**

**Honestly, I have too much of a wild imagination. Once I start thinking of something it doesn't stop for a good while. It's a problem I know and I'll try to keep it from popping back up again. **

**Now I know that I now have three stories on my plate. One of which hasn't been updated in a while. I'm still working on that. But this is just to ease my mind. I figured I'd upload it just so that people could see how my writing is going. I'll also more than likely continue this because my mind has already thought up far too many events.**

**Anyhow, this is a semi self-insert into one of my favorite games. Take that as you might.**

**It's rated T because I can't keep myself from swearing like a sailor. Oh and violence. Can't forget the violence.**

* * *

Name: Matthew Fox

Age: 18

Appearance: Has medium length brown hair.

Eye color is blue.

Wears a white shirt with a white and black flannel shirt over it. His pants are dark blue and his shoes are black. Has a black bandana wrapped around his left wrist. The bandana has a white dragon on it. The bandana commonly goes unseen while he is wearing a flannel as it is underneath the sleeves of it, but it can sometimes be seen hanging out.

Height: 5' 10"

My name is Matthew Fox and I'm a college student. Currently, I was driving down to a client's house to do some work. Most of my days are spent going to college and doing any homework the professors might assign. My free time is mostly spent working odd jobs for people across town to earn a little extra cash. On the off chance that I'm not working for a client, I'll spend my free time playing video games or hanging out with the few friends that I have.

Today was going to be one of my lucky days that I had to myself but, a new client called me up with a request that I do some work. Usually, I don't take up offers on the spot, but this guy said he would more than quadruple my rates that I advertise and that was huge to me. The guy didn't tell me what he wanted me to do but, at the moment I bolted out of my apartment that didn't matter to me.

Shortly after leaving my apartment, I arrived at the guy's house.

It was huge! The guy owned a freaking mansion!

My eyes kept darting back and forth between the address on the wall in front of the mansion and the address I had written down.

Was this always so close to my apartment? It was such a short drive here, and I don't remember any mansions ever being around here. Then again it is a mansion. The owner most likely had the land cleared out and erected this mansion in maybe little under a month with the amount of money he probably has.

This couldn't be the guy's house! I must've gotten a number wrong or something. His house must be further down the road. As I was about to get back in my car and pull away from the gate, a butler walked out and greeted me.

"Are you Matthew Fox?"

This butler was about as proper as they come! He looked like he lived and breathed in a gentleman atmosphere!

"Y-Yes. That's me."

The butler bowed in front of me.

"My master has been awaiting your arrival. Please follow me. Do not worry about your car. A valet will take care of it."

The butler rose and walked towards the house. At the same time a young man dressed like a valet appeared next to me! Where did he come from!? It's funny hearing me say that but I'm serious right now! He was not there a second ago!

The valet simply stood in front of me with his hand open in front of him. Right, right. You want my keys. I handed the valet my keys and stepped out of his way as he got in my car and drove it up the driveway.

"Are you coming Matthew?"

The butler from earlier had turned around to look if I was following him. Which at the moment of course I wasn't. My brain can't comprehend what's going on right now. Me, a college student that does odd jobs and plays video games, is going to do work for some millionaire!? When was I going to be told this!?

Even though I was still boggled by what was happening, I followed the butler into the mansion. This place is definitely legit. The interior just screams "My owner is richer than you could ever hope to be!" to me. Everything in it looked of high quality. All the way from the carpet all the way to the paintings hung on the walls.

The butler continued to lead me as we headed up the stairs and down a corridor to our right. This place didn't look nearly this big from the front! We continued down this corridor that seemed to stretch for miles until we reached a door at the end of it.

"My master is waiting in here."

The butler presented the door to me and then carefully opened it like any butler would do.

In the room was a large flat screen TV and an expensive looking sofa with a tiger's pelt at the front of it. This guy is one rich son of a-

"Welcome Matt! Please have a seat!"

A man that I didn't notice at first was standing in front of the sofa and looking at me. Was he always there? Looking around me I soon realized that the butler that was near me is gone as well! Did he duck into one of the rooms? It's the only possible explanation. If he had walked back the way we came down that corridor, I'd be able to see him.

"Is something the matter, Matt?"

The man in the room seemed worried about my panicked state. He was an older blonde man but, to be honest he looked like he was only in his early thirties at the most. He was wearing a kind of bachelor's clothing I guess. His red jacket looked like it was made of some kind of fine fur while his white dress pants looked soft to the eyes. He held in one of his hands some kind of alcoholic beverage I'd presume.

"N-Nothing's the matter. Are you the one that called for me to do some work?"

The man looked overjoyed by my words and shot his arms up almost spilling whatever drink he was holding.

"Great! Indeed I am the one who asked for your assistance."

"So, what is it you want me to do?"

I was in fact an odd job worker but I do have standards. If this guy asks me to do anything weird I'm booking it the hell out of here.

"What I want you to do is simple! Simply hang out with me!"

Just hang out with him? I've had some weird requests before but this sounds like the weirdest. The guy's a millionaire and has loads of servants I bet! Why does he want me to hang out with him when he could probably just get one of his servants too?

"Just hang out with you? That's what you'll quadruple my rates for?" I shot the man a suspicious glare but he paid it no mind as he continued to look over ecstatic by my presence.

"You betcha! Come on over and have a seat!"

This guy… seems too weird… Damnit, I know I said I would book it if he tries anything weird but this doesn't seem too weird yet. I'll just amuse him for now. It would help if the guy gave me the money now though.

"So where's the money for my work?"

The guy looked a little upset that I would ask for my money now. It's not something that I usually do for regular clients but this guy's a new one so I'm pretty sketchy about him. Even if he happens to be rich.

"The money's over there. On that table."

The man pointed towards a table in the corner to my right. Walking over to it, I grabbed the money off of it and counted it. This is!... No way!... He took my rates and paid me ten times over that! This amount of money is ridiculous! I could pay my rent for a half a year plus food!

"That'll do for the day correct? Or do you need more?"

Do I need more!?

"N-No s-sir. This'll be more than enough!"

Damn you morals! I could be draining this guy dry of his money right now if it weren't for you!

The guy was pleased and sat down on the sofa while patting a cushion on it.

"Come on and have a seat!"

Please don't be some weird freak… Please…

Reluctantly, I sat down next to the blonde man on the sofa. On a table next to the sofa on his side was a large bottle of wine and another glass. The guy poured some into his glass and drank some of it before pouring me a glass and handing it to me.

I may be underage but that won't stop me from taking a drink with this guy after how much he paid me.

In a quick swig, I drank the wine. Not bad… In fact, this stuff is amazing! Of course I don't have anything to compare it to but even for a newb to alcohol like me I could tell this was high grade stuff. How is it that rich people get all the best stuff in life!?

"Good isn't it? That wine has been aging for over a decade now."

A decade's worth of time went into this wine that I'm drinking! Who would've thought that I would be able to drink such a high valued existence!?

"Would you like to play a game? Right there in front of the TV is a game console. Go ahead and pick something."

This guy plays video games too?! Sounds like my kind of rich guy! After I got up from the sofa, I went over to the TV. On the entertainment center underneath the large TV was a rack of old Psone games and a Psone with one controller. Kind of wasn't expecting him to only have a Psone. What are all these games though? I've played my fair share of Psone games but there isn't a single one that I recognize. Hold on! This guy has Final Fantasy VII! It's not something you play with others let alone when you're hanging out with someone, but it's the only one I know out of these games so it'll have to do.

Popping the game into the Psone, I started it up and sat back down on the sofa with the controller. The game started and I began playing it.

"So Matt, what do you think about Earth?"

Eh? What kind of question is that? That's not the kind of question you ask someone when you're hanging out with them.

"I think… That it's alright. I mean, it's pretty boring for me but there are others out there that love it to death so it's alright I suppose."

"Do you think that there are other planets with life on them in our universe?"

What's with the serious questions? He seemed like one of those I get drunk and have a ton of fun kind of guys. Not one of those deep philosophical ones.

"Of course I do. I highly doubt that we're the only ones in the entire universe."

It's an obvious answer for me. Who's to say that we're the only ones? Why would there be so many different planets in our universe if only ours has life on it? What would be the point of that? The creation of all those other planets would be pointless.

"Then surely you must believe that there must be multiple universes."

"I wouldn't doubt it. Anything is a possibility."

What's this guy's deal?

I was playing the game but it was pretty easy to look back at the guy from time to time considering it was Final Fantasy VII after all. The blonde man leaned back on the sofa with a wide smile on his face.

"That's good to hear. It does a great thing to an old man's heart when he hears a youth like you."

Old man? How old are you!?

The man came back forward from leaning back and held his hand out in front of me.

"Mind if I play?"

"It's your game so no. Not at all. Go right ahead."

I handed the man the controller and he took it. Having just gotten out of the first Mako reactor with Barret, I was still pretty early in the game. Except, he didn't continue from where I left off. No, instead he reset the Psone. Why would he do that? The beginning isn't something that's crucial for you to play yourself. In fact, he watched me play it so he should understand what's going on even if he never played it before.

He was on the main menu of New Game and Continue for a good minute as he continuously looked up at the TV and back down to the controller.

"I don't get it. Which one selects it? Can you help me?"

The man turned to me and gave a smile to me as he held the controller in front of himself.

Has he never played this game before? It's understandable then that he doesn't know which button would select something. Most people would think it's X but in reality it's circle.

"Here it's this one."

With my index finger, I pressed circle on his controller selecting New Game. However, what started to happen next was far from what I could've ever have hoped to predict.

Sparks began to shoot off the controller and a small hole in space was expanding in front of me!

"What the fuck's going on!?"

In my panicking state I attempted to get away from the hole in space in front of me. It was as if it was sucking me in! The rich man that had hired me isn't being sucked in at all though! He's practically standing right next to it and it looks like he knew this would happen!

"This, my dear friend, is your new destiny."

My destiny!? What load of bullshit is he spewing out over there!?

My resisting of the portal soon became useless as it completely lifted me off my feet and sucked me face first into it!

This had to be the worst day of my life.

"AHHH!"

Screaming out in fear, I flew through the portal at an incredible speed. It was very brief as I soon emerged from the portal into some new area.

My speed was greatly reduced after exiting the portal, but that didn't stop me from continuing to fly through the air and slam my head into a wall.

THUD

My head crashed into the wall and I fell unconscious.

Sometime Later

"Ow~…. That freaking hurt. What the hell happened?"

Rising from the ground, I rubbed my head and tried to survey my surroundings. It looked like a beat up shanty town by the looks of it. People looked poor and some even looked starved as they wandered around aimlessly. The area was barely lit up by the few neon lights hanging from buildings. The entire sky looked to be blocked out by some giant ceiling.

Where am I?

Before I could start to search for answers on where I was, a girl approached me.

"Are you alright?"

The girl in front of me looked a lot like Aeris from Final Fantasy. Their resemblance was uncanny. The girl was even holding a flower basket like Aeris did in the beginning of the game. She looked at me with a worried face as I held my throbbing head.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine! No problem! Hahaha."

That's a lie. My head feels like it was split open and I have a massive headache.

"Oh, well it's just that you don't look alright."

"No, no. I'm perfectly fine."

Although it looks like she doesn't believe me, she looks relieved as she gave me a smile and asked "Would you like to buy a flower? They're only one gil."

One gil? I must've hit my head harder than I thought if I heard her say gil instead of dollar. One dollar is pretty cheap though. I'd feel bad if I gave her only a dollar. I'll give her two dollars. It only seems fair. She's selling herself short by selling them for one dollar.

"Sure, here you go."

The girl handed me a flower in exchanged for the two dollar bills I handed her.

"Do you know where a guy could get a drink?"

Really in need of something for this pain in my head.

The girl looked over the dollar bills I handed her as if she was inspecting them. She then raised her head back up and responded to my question.

"Yeah, head in there. They should have something to drink."

The girl pointed at a building and I thanked her before walking into it.

Entering into the building, quickly I realized that it was indeed a place to get a drink. Thank God. I'm sure that even the hardest drink in the world won't get rid of this pain. Shame that I probably won't be able to trick my way into purchasing that considering I'm only eighteen and all. Maybe a coffee would help out. I highly doubt it though.

Taking a seat on one of the stools, I released my hand from my head and laid the side of my head that had the most pain on the bar.

"A coffee please."

"Coming right up!"

A young girl's voice. Suppose she must be the barkeep.

Why do I have such a huge pain in my head? What happened before that? Trying to collect my memories, I soon remember that I had been sucked into a portal in that rich guy's house.

That's right! I was sent hurling through that portal and I bashed my head on some wall! Exactly what was the deal with that portal? Damn. I could've asked that girl where I was. It could've helped clear up a lot of this entire dilemma.

"Here you go. Would you like any sugar with- Sir! You're bleeding!"

Eh? What's this barkeep talking about?

I lifted my head up off the bar and looked down at it. There was blood all over it! And my hand that I had holding my head before was covered in blood too! I'm going to die from blood loss at this rate!

"Shit!"

There's a ton of my blood on the bar and it was flowing down my face too!

"Please sir hold still."

The barkeeper told me that as she tried to keep me from flipping out. She looked like a twin of Tifa Lockhart's. She placed her hands over my head and a light green aura emitted from them. What's this?! My wound feels like it's closing on my head and the pain is leaving with it! I still have blood on my hand, face, and her bar but the bleeding has stopped!

"How did you-"

"It's my materia Restore."

M-M-M-Materia!? I know my ears didn't deceive me this time! On top of that I witnessed and felt the power of her materia! My pea sized brain can put two and two together now! If what I think is true, then I'm in Final Fantasy VII!

How did I end up here!? Who cares about that right now!? I just bled all over Tifa's bar!

"Sorry about… the mess."

Tifa wore a warm smile as she spoke.

"It's no problem. You're not the first one to bleed on it."

Usually that would sound intimidating to me, but hearing it from Tifa doesn't make me think that at all.

"What a beautiful flower."

Tifa was looking at the flower that I was holding in my non bloodied hand.

Now I really feel bad. I gave Aeris two dollars instead of gil! I practically ripped her off! There will have to be some rectifying of this mistake in the future. Actually, no. First priority is to find a way back home. Apologizing for paying with the wrong currency can come after that.

I don't want to be messing with the characters in this game but this flower isn't going to help me out. Might as well get rid of it.

"This? Here, you can have it. It's the least I can do after you saved me just now."

Tifa took the flower from me and walked behind the counter to place it a vase.

"That's not much of a payment for saving your life but I'll take it. Thank you."

It may be better to get introductions out of the way. She doesn't know me but I know more than I should about her. Plus, if I accidentally use her name without her having given it to me, there could be trouble.

"My name's Matthew Fox. Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise. My name's Tifa Lockhart."

Strangely enough, even though I'm in a world that I've only known of through playing a video game about it, I feel at ease right now.

"Awright! All of you get your dead beat asses out of here!"

A large burly man that looked exactly like Barret came barreling through the door yelling! Crap! If memory serves correctly, then there's a good chance that Barret will chase me out of here.

The few other patrons in the bar quickly ran out knowing what might befall them if they stuck around. All that was left was me.

The man that I'm more than ninety-nine percent certain is Barret, turned his deadly gaze on me.

The game doesn't do Barret justice! He's a freaking grizzly bear! Is he 6'? No, he has to be 6' 1". I'd go for 6' 3" even! He's that freaking tall and he looks like he could go toe to toe with a bull with how big he is!

"Didn't ya hear me? I said to get your damn lazy ass outta here!"

Barret picked me up by the collar on my shirt and carried me to the front door. He kicked it open and tossed me outside.

While I soared through the air briefly, I could see Cloud standing outside. He must still think that he is part of Soldier considering he's in their uniform.

My God! Is that really how big the buster sword is?! It's covering Cloud's entire back! It must be like carrying another person on his back with how large that thing is!

Within a few moments after being tossed out, I crashed into the ground. At least this time I didn't hit a wall. Granted, I'm still covered in blood and now my clothes are covered in dirt.

I lifted myself off the ground and patted myself off to help get some of the dirt off. After doing so, I looked back at what I now knew was the Seventh Heaven. It looked like everybody went inside already.

My gut is telling me not to try to go into the bar again considering Barret's attitude. Knowing him he'll probably knock me out cold for even trying. A punch from his gun arm sent shivers down my spine as I imagined how it would feel.

Ok, ok. Calm down, Matthew. How hard can getting around in this world be? You don't have any of this world's currency, you have no idea how to get back to your own world, and you don't even have a weapon to defend yourself while you're in this world.

Now that I'm thinking about it though, there's been something that felt a little off on my left wrist.

Rolling up my sleeve on my left arm, I looked at my left wrist. What I saw on it was surprising to say the least. Instead of my bandana that I had wrapped around it, there was a bracelet. The bracelet was golden and it looked like it had a couple of chocobos engraved on it. To top it all off there looked like there was a materia in one of the bracelet's four slots for one. It was a red materia. Going by what I understand about the game, it must be a summon materia.

It's not something that all too sure of, but I feel like this is a chocobracelet. This is my best guess considering the available options on what it could be in the game and what this one looks like.

I'm glad that I have something, but the fact that my bandana is gone sends me for a mix of emotions. I feel enraged, sad, and even confused. Not all of these emotions are all just for my missing bandana. Some of them are for the situation I'm in right now. There's nowhere for me to sleep tonight. I have no way of securing a decent meal to eat and… I'm stuck in a video game without any idea of how to get back home.

Today is a grand day for me… really… it is.

* * *

**End of the line!**

**Again this is a semi self-insert so Matt is hardly me. Fun fact, I am nothing but sarcasm in real life. Sarcasm gave birth to me and that's how I live.**

**Some more fun facts, this would have actually been my first fan fic.**

**Two ideas crossed my mind last year and I tried to write them out. One had my guy joining AVANLANCHE no problem. BORING.**

**Another had my guy replacing Cloud and starting all the way back in Nibelheim. Replacing Cloud rubbed me the wrong way so you can obviously tell where that idea went.**

**A few days ago I started to think about more ideas for this fic and I finally decided to go with one of them. This story being that one.**

**Anyways, back to other things. I gave a little description of Matt's appearance in the beginning because that's how I generally like to do things. Nothing more, nothing less. **

**Down the line there will probably be a bunch of cuts to other people on Gaia and even some changes to third person view. Just to give you a bit of a taste on the bigger scale.**

**I'm not really going to set a word prerequisite for this but the chapters will be decently sized.**

**The next chapter should be ready shortly. Work on this is overtaking my other fics because I can tell that I'll have a lot of fun with it and fun is something that I like.**

**Please remember to leave a review on what you liked/disliked!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's that other chapter I was talking about. I told you all that it would be ready shortly. **

**My work speed is either extremely fast or painfully slow. It would seem that I'm not in the latter right now.**

**So this chapter is going to dabble in my own scenes and not really ones from the game. Hopefully, you enjoy them and I don't mess up any of the character's personalities.**

**Well, there were no reviews for the last chapter. Let's change that, shall we?**

* * *

The first thing on my to-do list was to find some kind of water source to clean my face off.

Walking around with dried blood on my face doesn't sound like the best of ideas. At least it isn't too bad and I don't think that anybody in the slums actually cares.

The size of sector seven is surprising to say the least. In the game you could hardly go anywhere. There was maybe about three or four areas that you actually had access to.

Now, I'm roaming around what feels like a large city. A complex one at that.

All I want to do is find a source of running water. Not only do I want to clean my face off but I also can do for a drink right now. Barret didn't even give me a chance to take a drink of my coffee. Although… I didn't pay for it and I didn't have any way to do so. Seeing on how my money is useless here, it might not be too long before it's all used to help kindle a fire.

It might be best to take inventory of what I actually have right now. In my front pocket I have my cell phone which will be of zero use since I only used the thing for calls even though it was a smartphone. Luckily, for me I remembered to bring along my iPod and some headphones when I left to that rich guy's house. My wallet contains my driver's license, a whole lot of American money, a credit card, and a picture of my family. I'm starting to really wish that I never moved out now. Maybe I wouldn't be in this mess if I just attended a local college like my mom wanted. Oh well. Better to keep trekking forward and worry about that stuff later.

Well, that's about all I have along with this chocobracelet and summon materia. I still haven't the slightest idea of how to use materia. In the game it was simple. Pick magic or summon in the menu and pick which spell or summon that you wanted to use. There is no menu to do those things now… or at least… not that I know of.

Finally, after walking for a good hour, I found a fountain full of water. Not much to say about the surrounding area. It's the slums after all. The place looks like any city's bad side except probably a few times worse. Then again, I don't have anything else to compare it to so it would have the grand placing of the worst part of a city I've ever seen.

Without giving much thought to it, I walked over to the fountain and dipped my hands into it. I cupped my hands together and pulled up some water. The first thing I did was take a drink. Worst. Decision. Ever.

The water tastes like sewage. If my brain was functioning right, I could've known this clearly by the smell of it. Common sense would've also told me that the slums would have terrible water.

It might not be good to drink out of it but I can still use it to get this blood off. I washed off my bloodied hand and then proceeded to clean off my face. It's a shame that I'll have to smell like sewage now but this is a lot better than having crusty blood on my face.

All right, what is the next plan of action? Figure out a way out of this game? I think it's pretty obvious that's not going to happen so easily. Securing a weapon would be my next goal but I don't have any gil to buy one. How would one get gil without fighting monsters? Probably like in the real world. People would go and get a job like any sane person rather than going around slaying monsters for it.

I'm not about to just go and get any job though. I have to think about the future here. If there is no way to get out of this game, then maybe I should at least try to get involved with the main story of the game. Not for any selfish gain, but instead to change some of the events in the game. Saving Aeris would be at the top of the list of changes I'd be making.

In order to get involved with the main cast I'll have to think of a way for them to allow this. Gaining their trust could prove to be a difficult task. Barret already sees me as just some random guy as evidence by him tossing me out of the bar. Cloud could care less about me in his current state. Aeris might be on my side considering her personality and all but then again… I did rip her off. There is Tifa but she wouldn't trust me right off the bat.

Also, how would I run into them? Going to the Seventh Heaven is out of the question since it's their base of operations and all. Meeting them at the sector five reactor is also out of the question considering my lack of weapons. Getting into Don Corneo's place to help with saving Tifa is out of the question considering my gender. Should I hang around the pillar to wait for when it's going to be blown up? Knowing my luck, I'd get crushed by it. The easiest place of meeting I can foresee is… Shinra's headquarters.

I'll get a job working for Shinra that way then I can be in the same area as them when they come to save Aeris. When they come storming into the building, I can assist them in getting through the building because I'll be an employee. Hopefully, they'll see me as trustworthy after that. What if they don't though? What's my back up plan for getting on their good side?!

Argh! All of this planning is hurting my head! How the hell am I even supposed to get to Shinra's headquarters anyways?! The main cast will climb up some elaborate landscape! There's no way that I could pull that off!

Ok… Wait. This isn't a game anymore. There has to be a regular way up to Shinra's headquarters. Otherwise, how would people get up there to work? Let's just ask for some directions.

Looking around my surroundings, I spotted a bald man walking along the street. I sprinted ahead of him and got him to stop simply from that.

"C-Can I help you?"

The man looked more than confused by my bizarre way of getting his attention.

"Yes, could you by chance tell me how to get to Shinra's headquarters? I'm new here in Midgar and I was hoping to get a job over there."

The man blinked multiple times still puzzled by me.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he called me out on how odd my clothes were compared to his. I don't exactly look like I belong anywhere in this world.

"Sure… If you keep heading that way, you'll reach a train station. That one will take you right next to the building. After that, you can just circle around it until you find the front doors. You'd better hurry though. The train's last run should be in an hour."

The man pointed down a road to the left of us.

I smiled to the bald man and waved good bye before I took off in a sprint down the road he pointed down.

It's times like these that I wish I had taken my physical health more seriously. I'm not out of shape or anything but I definitely am not in shape either. I'm just that skinny guy that has no signs of muscles.

Without much time to spare, I made it to the train station and booked it into the train before the doors shut. The train itself was a little more packed than I had expected. All of the seats appeared to be taken and there was even some people standing in the middle of the aisles. It looks like I'll be joining those people.

Is this what living in a big city is like? I'm glad that this won't be a regular routine for long. Or at least… I hope not.

The train ride was surprisingly fast. It didn't take long for it to arrive at the top of the plate. The crowd of people started to file out in a giant mess of people. At this point I was glad that I was in the aisle since it allowed for a quick escape from the crowd.

This is another thing the game did a poor job of showing. Midgar is a large city. It's also the largest one on this planet. The city is jammed pack full of people. Shinra is also the largest job employer in the city. They have the largest military too. It would only make sense that you have an army sized amount of people heading to it so they could start their job.

Since Shinra is so large, I would imagine that about half of Midgar's population works in shifts for the corporation. Judging by the time, I'd say that this is the night crew.

Finding the front doors was easy since all I had to do was follow the mob of people. There were all kinds of check in stations around the lobby and the mob of people didn't waste any time checking in. They were all gone in the blink of an eye. It was amazing how fast they did it.

I was the only one left in the lobby save for a few guards and the receptionist at the front desk.

Might as well get to work on becoming a conformist.

I walked to the front desk and rested my hands on it. The receptionist looked away from the computer she had on her desk and greeted me.

"Hello, sir. How may I be of assistance?"

"I was actually looking for a job and was wondering if there were any openings here."

The lady was already smiling but after my statement, she perked up to a new high.

"We always are in need of more workers here at Shinra Inc."

The woman quickly opened up a drawer and pulled out a stack of papers. She placed a number of different papers all across the front desk. They were all facing me so that I could read them without having to flip them around.

"These are merely a few of the entry level jobs you can choose from. Take your time and see if there's one you'd like."

The lady pointed out to each of the papers before resting her hands on the stack.

All of these seem… the same. There's a Military Police opening with a daytime schedule. There's also a Military Police opening with a night time schedule. There's even one for being in the Military Police all the way in Junon! The hell?!

Each of them have an eight hour work schedule that seems flexible. What the hell is the point of all of these papers if I end up as a MP no matter what!?

Wait… there is one other one. Military Police, Shinra Inc. Repair Divison, job is to make repairs and upgrades to various pieces of mechanical equipment owned by Shinra Inc.

That one doesn't sound half bad. The pay also seems decent although the work schedule seems asinine. Whatever. It's better than the others.

I picked up the paper and showed it to the receptionist.

"I'll take this one please."

"All right! Here's a pen so that you can fill out the required information."

She handed me a pen and I went to work on filling out the paper.

It only took a minute and I was done. I handed her the paper and she looked it over.

"All right… Matthew Fox. Now all I need is your citizen ID card and we can have you start work right now."

C-Citizen ID card? I remember there being a time when the AVALANCHE group had fake ones for some security check but I kind of forgot all about that. Actually, I'm pretty sure that we went through that whole ID scan check point but there wasn't any dilemma about me not having one. I'll count that as being hell of lucky but now I'm screwed. Maybe she can believe that I lost it?

"Well… Actually, I kind of lost it… Any chance I can get a replacement?"

The receptionist looked up from the paper I handed her and shot me a suspicious glare.

"In that case… Let me look you up in the database. Just to make sure that you're a citizen."

She turned back to her computer and started furiously typing.

Crap! I'm not going to be in that database thing! Better start thinking of the best way to run out of here. There's about five guards in here. Can I outrun them?

As I contemplated my dire situation, the lady seemed to have finished her search.

"Ah! Here you are Matthew!"

Excuse me? I'm actually in that computer?

I took a look at her monitor's screen and sure enough, there was a picture of me on it with some information.

How the hell did my picture get in there!? It looks like my driver's license photo.

Who the hell cares?! I'm in the database!

"Ok, Matthew. All I need you to do is answer your security question."

Of course there would be something else. I'll probably get thrown in jail if I mess this up too.

"When was your first kiss?"

The hell? What kind of security question is that?! Well at least it's an easy one.

"I never had one."

"Correct! Well, here's your replacement ID card. Please make an effort not to lose it again. You are a Shinra employee now after all."

The lady handed me an ID card with all kinds of different information on it about me. It was mostly just eye color, height, and things like that. She also handed me a key with the ID card.

"You start work right now. Head up to the fiftieth floor and find the room clearly labeled "Mechanic". That'll be your own personal room that you are allowed to do with as you please. Also, take this but be careful. That's a keycard with access to all of the floors past the fifty-ninth. No one but yourself is allowed to get a hold of that. You're a part of our MP's Repair Division now. Do us proud!"

The lady then handed me a card with all access written across it.

A keycard with access to every floor? Well, since I'm going to be a mechanic of sorts it does make sense. How else would I repair something on the sixty-eighth floor if I can't get there?

I took the keycard from her gingerly and gave the lady a smile.

"Thank you for the help. I won't disappoint!"

I saluted the lady. After that, I walked to one of the elevators and entered it. The elevator took me up to the fiftieth floor and I exited it. Finding my personal space was easy considering how it was directly in front of the elevators.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside while closing the door behind me.

Not much room in here. It's essentially a closet except a bit wider and quite the amount longer.

First things first, I'm going to suit up into my new gear that is oh so gracefully hanging from the back of the door.

I discarded my old clothes and got into my new uniform. It was the classic blue infantryman's that you see all over the place in the beginning of the game. You know the one. The one that all the MPs are always wearing in the game. The only part of the uniform I disregarded was the helmet.

Who would've thought that the Shinra Repair Division was a part of the MP? It kind of makes me wonder how that one guy thought Cloud was a part of it.

There's even a scarf with this uniform. It was a gray one. For whatever reason, I feel kind of like Cloud when he was a part of the MP.

After putting on the scarf, I made sure to take my phone, iPod, headphones and wallet out of my old pants and put them into my new pants pockets.

Also, in the room was a toolbox with various tools inside of it. It was just small enough to make it easy to pick it up and lug it around.

Finally, there was a small handgun on the small table that was attached to the wall in the room. I guess it's important to always stay armed when you're an infantryman for Shinra. Although I would've preferred a more automatic kind of gun, this still helps nonetheless. This pistol is the only form of defense I would appear to have at the moment.

I took the pistol and placed it carefully into the holster on my side. After that, I picked up the toolbox by its handle and opened the door back up. I stepped out of the room and shut the door behind me. Of course I remembered to lock it before I started to wander around.

Better start doing my job or they'll think I'm slacking. What exactly am I supposed to do? There wasn't a to-do list in there. Do I just wander around until I get told to do something?

"… Mechanic needed on the fifty-fifth floor…"

A voice rings out from a small little radio device on the side of my uniform.

I suppose that answers my question.

I arrived onto the fifty-fifth floor and exited it. The floor was filled with all kinds of different robots. My bet says that this is where they store them all.

Down the ways a bit I could see a MP already going to work on one of the robots while a man in a blue suit is standing next to him. The man in the blue suit has some wild red hair and he even looks like he has red marks on his cheeks from here. By the looks of it, he seems to only be watching the guy work on the robot. Are those googles on his head? Ah… I can't tell from here.

Before I could take any more time to look at what was going on, the man with the red hair seemed to have noticed me. He turned fully around and waved his arm in the air.

"We could use some help over here yo!"

Oh~! I know who it is now! That must be Reno! One of the Turks from the game.

Reno was waving for me to come over and give some assistance to the other grunt.

I took the offer and made my way over to them. Getting a closer look at the robot, I have the feeling that I actually know this one. It's the Heli-Gunner that you have to fight on the elevators when escaping from this building.

The hell is wrong with the thing?

After some brief walking, I arrived next to Reno.

"What seems to be the problem?"

Reno took out his electric rod and gave the robot a light tap with it.

"The dang thing won't start up yo. This guy's been working on it for a good twenty minutes but I don't think he has the slightest clue on what he's doing."

Reno finished his sentence with a shrug. The man working on the robot looked a little displeased about what Reno said but didn't voice his complaints.

"Did you try unplugging it and plugging it back in?"

Apparently, my terrible joke was met with a good laugh from Reno.

"No, but I'll be sure to have this guy try that next yo."

"What's with the dire need of fixing this thing anyways? We seem to have plenty of other machines."

"This one in particular is simply better than the rest of these. It's actually a pretty high grade machine so we can't have it sitting around gathering dust yo."

I'm slightly surprised by the fact that this boss is basically broken in front of me.

"Well, I do have a job to do after all. Step aside please."

I knelt down next to the robot after the other MP moved out of the way.

This… This is child stuff. Already I can tell that there's just a wire cut, another that isn't fully into the circuit board, and one that is plugged into the entirely wrong spot. How is this stuff that complicated to them?

"This'll… only take a second... really… just one second…"

I sounded dumbfounded. Truthfully, I was. Shinra seemed like a really high tech company so I thought their mechanics would understand on how to fix this hi tech equipment. Guess I was wrong.

I opened up my toolbox and got to work on repairing it. It took a couple of minutes but I had everything sorted back to how it should be.

That was a cake walk for me because of my knowledge in engineering. I've taken multiple classes on different kinds of engineering in high school and I was even taking some more in college.

My knowledge includes electrical, mechanical, programming, and even civil engineering. I was a real jack of all trades when it came to engineering but electrical and programming were what I was best at.

It's about time that all of that knowledge came in use.

Time to give this baby a whirl.

I started the machine up, and what do you know? It started up. The machine was hovering in front of us.

"Whew~! That really did only take a second yo! You're an expert at this stuff, kid!"

Reno was holding the top of his head to keep his wild hair from getting any wilder from the air being whipped up by the robot.

The other MP was standing there astonished as he continued to mutter something over and over again.

"You think you can fly that thing over to its spot on the racks over there? Here are the controls for it yo."

Reno gave me some controller for the robot. It had a couple of analogs and a few other buttons that I didn't dare touch.

"Doesn't this thing have an AI in it? Can't it do this on its own?"

Reno let out a small chuckle before responding to me.

"Yeah, that thing has a pretty kickass AI in it but the higher ups are really limiting it. You know, it's that whole robots taking over us humans thing yo. Ridiculous, right?"

"Sounds like a ridiculous reason to give me more work."

Reno chuckled again and slapped my back with his free hand.

"My thoughts exactly yo."

It might be just because it's Reno but I actually almost want to laugh with him. However, I instead only let myself smile.

Alright, flying this thing has to be a piece of cake. It's like flying a remote controlled plane right?

I started messing around with the controller carefully just to figure out what analog did what. Eventually, I figured it out and was able to start slowly flying it. It took a few more minutes but I was able to safely land it in its designated spot.

"Nice job, kid! Hey, what's your name yo?"

"Matthew. Matthew Fox. I actually only just started here today."

"All right. Name's Reno. I'll be sure to tell your superior about what you did here today yo."

Reno waved good bye as he walked away. He didn't look at me while he waved. He simply waved as he walked away.

Is that supposed to give him cool points in my book? You'll have to do more than that Reno.

The other MP has already taken his leave. He must've left sometime during that whole flying robot part.

H-Hold on! Was I supposed to have been left with the robot's controller!? Uh… I suppose it's mine now? Yeah, I'll just keep a good eye on it. That's what I'll do.

I put the robot's controller into my toolbox and walked back to the elevator to go back to the fiftieth floor.

Soon enough, I made it back to my little room and I sat my toolbox down on the little table.

This job isn't too hard. I'll be getting 1000 gil each day too. That's not a bad pay day at all. Especially, not for how easy this stuff is.

Huh… I wonder how I'm getting paid… I didn't think about it but is this a weekly pay thing? I kind of need the money now.

My shift isn't over but I'll go and ask the receptionist about this.

I made my way down to the first floor and went to the front desk. The lady sitting at it noticed me immediately and even managed to recognize me.

"Ah. Matthew, how goes work?"

"It's going great. I was just wondering when I get my pay exactly. Not to be rude, I just need it fast is all."

The woman at the desk gave me a troubled look.

That doesn't look good for me.

"Sorry, but we pay by the week. Rules are rules."

Of course…. What the fuck am I supposed to do about food!?

"T-Thank you for informing me. I'll be heading back up… now."

I left the front desk looking a little jittery from my lack of sanity. The fact that I still didn't have a way of getting any money was seriously irking me.

Alright, maybe there's a place to eat here in this building. It's a giant corporation so I would assume so. I have access to every floor so I'd better get searching before my stomach starts to eat itself.

Which floors were essentially break areas? The sixtieth and the sixty-fifth I believe. They have to have some kind of food place on them.

My first stop was the sixtieth floor. The second I stepped out of the elevator I saw employees eating sandwiches. My thought process went immediately to how they obtained this food.

I bolted to the employees and asked them in a frantic state "Where did you get that food!?"

The two men that I just practically charged pointed to their right. They pointed at a cart that was being manned by a single guy.

My body moved on its own as I found myself in front of the sandwich cart.

"Um… This doesn't cost employees anything… right?"

"Nothing at all! Just grab one, buddy!"

Thank you God! I thought that I was going to die!

I grabbed one of the pre wrapped sandwiches on the cart and gave the man a large hug.

"O-Ok… You're starting to weird me out, pal."

The sandwich seller awkwardly patted my back as I held onto him.

"You're a life saver! I'll never forget you!"

I released him from my hold and gave him a bow before I went back to the elevator to return to the fiftieth floor.

I went into my personal room and dug into the sandwich.

Well, if I have to… I could sleep in here on the floor. It's barely long enough that I could lie down on my back and only have to slightly bend my legs. It would definitely be the worst place I ever slept but it would be better than sleeping outside in the cold.

They did say I could use this room however I wanted so that should mean I could just live in here.

After finishing my food, I finished up my work and made sure to clock out. I went back up to my personal room and piled up my old clothes to form a kind of pillow. I laid myself down on the floor with my head resting on my old clothes.

The room was definitely a lot smaller than I thought. I had to bend my legs a whole lot in order to be able to lie on the ground with my back flat against the floor.

What did I exactly accomplish today? I got a job in Shinra so that's useful. I actually have a weapon now. Not only that but I have control to one of the bosses in the game! That's pretty kickass. Also, I met Reno and the guy seemed cool enough. At least he didn't throw me out of a bar. Alright, now I'm just complaining. It'll be better if I just go to sleep.

The main cast will be going to sector five tomorrow I believe. Then the next day will be the plate falling on sector seven. Considering the amount of stuff that is done that day, I would say they'll storm this building at night so that would be during my shift. Although, I don't think I'll be leaving this building anyways considering my lack of a house.

About two days from now and I'll have to hope that I can earn their trust. Otherwise there might not be another chance at it. In the meantime, I'll just have to make a go at living in this world.

* * *

**That's a wrap folks!**

**So Matt's clothing will probably be the MP's for the remainder of the story. Maybe, maybe not. I'm kind of leaning on it remaining though.**

**The next chapter should lead into some heavy stuff for Matt.**

**Also, the next chapter will be the time for me to employ some interesting things to the story.**

**Please remember to leave a review about what you liked/disliked!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Another new chapter is entering the fray!**

**Not only has a new chapter entered the fray, but a new review has as well! The first one I might add. Thanks for that, veesmaster. I'm glad to hear you enjoy my story and that you have good expectations for it. Here's to not fucking that up!**

**So… these are being written way faster than even I could have expected. Then again, I have been having an easy time at college so it opened up some free time.**

**Time to shut myself up and let the story go on.**

* * *

Where… am I?

I fell asleep in that closet I work out of, but that's not where I currently am right now.

The entire surrounding area is a wide variety of different shades of blue. It looked like I was moving at a high speed, but I wasn't moving at all. There doesn't appear to be anything for miles. There's not even a sun here. No moon either. Not even a single cloud in the vast blue sky. Everything was empty and blue.

I still seem to be wearing a MP's uniform so there's that. I even still have my handgun holstered on my side.

"What the hell is going on?!"

I shouted straight into the air as if I would get an answer from something.

"I believe that I can answer that."

Surprisingly, a voice did call back.

I looked around to try and find this voice but I was met with zero results.

"Where are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm right here."

I turned to where the voice was coming from and was met with its source.

It was the rich blonde man that had hired me before this whole mess! He was sitting on the same couch he had in his mansion. The man was seated on this couch directly in front of me.

I know for a fact that he wasn't there a second ago.

"Where'd you come from?"

The man put on a thoughtful expression as he held his hand under his chin.

"Well… Most believe that I have existed forever. Others believe that they created me from their very own imagination. Your species would have to be a mix of both I would say. Not that what they think really matters. As for my own answer, I would say that I came from where I came from."

What the hell is he talking about?

"Where is that?"

He took his hand away from his chin and smiled to me.

"Why… That would be right where you're standing."

Is he trying to tell me he was born in this empty plain of existence? What a load of crap.

"Yeah, yeah. And I'm one of Santa's work elves. I was born in the North Pole and I married another little elf. We had twelve children. One boy and the rest girls. It's chaotic."

He started to slowly clap.

"Truly a lie but I like the creativeness. Would you like if that was your life? I could make it happen, you know?"

The man gave me a mischievous look as a quill and a book appeared in his hands.

Okay… that's not normal.

"Who… Who are you?"

He had already opened the book he was holding and was about to start writing in it. My question broke his concentration, however, as he looked up at me.

"Me? Oh I'm nobody. Just God of all things basically."

This guy… This guy is a God!? You're fucking with me right?! A God? There's no way.

I must be in a terrible dream. The cold floor in that closet must be messing with my dreams.

In a desperate attempt to wake myself from this horrid dream I slapped myself . Nothing. Again, I tried slapping myself to wake up. Again, nothing. This time I took my hand back as far as I could and closed it into a fist. With my arm extended as far back as possible, I gave myself a nasty punch straight to my face. Not a thing happened. All I got was two sore cheeks and a sore nose.

"Now, now. Hitting yourself is going to change a thing. If you think this is a dream, then I'd suggest you stop. I pulled you from that other world into my own so that I could discuss some things with you."

He pulled me out of Gaia? Hold on. This piece of shit was the one that put me on that planet in the first place! Or game. I don't know what the hell it is anymore!

"Oh so you just threw me in there just to pull me into this shit hole? Remind me why the fuck you're a God."

Visibly one couldn't easily tell that I was getting pissed. It's because I never changed my facial structure. Even my tone of voice didn't change slightly. That was a bad sign though. With my choice of words and lack of emotion in them, anybody that knew me even a little would be able to tell that I was infuriated.

The man let out a sigh before closing his book and setting it down on the couch he was sitting on. He raised himself up from the couch and walked over to me. The scumbag tried to put his hand on my shoulder but I took a step back to dodge it.

Again, he sighed and stretched his arms to his sides. It's like he expects me to accept a hug from him.

"I understand that you must be angry at me, but can't we get along?"

"Get along? Yeah, maybe I would've got along with you if you didn't put me in some random world. Perhaps if you put me back on Earth where I belong, I'll get along with you better."

The blonde man let his arms full down to his sides. He let his head hang down as he shook it back and forth.

"Sorry, but that's not exactly an option. See, I chose you to be a part of a little experiment for me."

"Experiment?"

"Surely you must understand that planets and life didn't all just happen on their own. Of course you do. You're a smart kid. I made you that way."

He raised his head up to show that he had a large grin on his face.

It looked a little strange on how happy he was.

The God continued in his ramblings while he paced himself back and forth.

"Well, as God of everything in existence, I was left in this empty plain with nothing but a book a quill and some ink to write with. This book in question has the power to make anything someone writes in it a reality."

The man stopped his pacing and held in his hands the book that he had previously sat down on the couch. Except, he didn't walk over and pick it up. It just appeared in his hand.

Things just keep getting weirder.

He opened up the book and started flipping through the pages. No matter how many pages he flipped over, the book didn't seem like it was going to end anytime soon. It wasn't a large book either. It looked no bigger than a regular sized college text book.

"I had nothing to do here so I started to write. It was then that I found out its power. My writings were becoming a reality. I created entire universes. I created life on planets in those universes. I wrote out stories for each and every one of the planets. Detailed and magnificent stories. My writings created their very lives and… they even took them."

He turned to me and flipped around the book so that I could see what was written in it.

"I even wrote out your life. Interesting, isn't it?"

Everything he had written out had in fact happened to me in my life. He had every detail written down exactly how it happened. Everything from the day I was born and onwards. Every event in my eighteen years of life was in this very book. Whether or not I went to school was in the book. All of my future dreams were carefully written out inside it. Even my inner thoughts of another person were written all over the pages.

The man flipped through the pages until he arrived to a blank one.

"Would you look at that? It would appear that I didn't write out your entire life. Hm… How strange? It would seem that I stopped on the day that you and I first met."

"What are you trying to get at? You were too lazy to finish my life so you don't know what to do with me?"

The mere thought that everything that happened in my life was planned out by this guy enrages me. Every action I performed wasn't my own. Every thought I had was another's. There was no true individuality. It was all controlled by one sad and lonely God.

Presidential elections? He decided who won them. Droughts and famines? He decided when and where they would start. Natural disasters? Well they aren't so natural if they're controlled, now are they?

The God carried on with our conversation.

"Not at all. I deliberately stopped writing your life, but let's change the topic for a moment. You enjoyed playing video games correct?"

"Yeah, it was what I did with most of my free time or should I say, your free time."

"On the contrary, video games were never mentioned in this book, now were they?"

Actually, I didn't see anything about myself playing a single video game in there.

"So video games are a crack in your system? Am I going to be punished for my crimes against your laws?"

"Not at all! You're being rewarded! Think about it. Why wouldn't video games be mentioned in here? It's because I placed them into existence without writing them in the book. Of course my power to do this came from the book. Now let's think a little harder. What are these video games based off of?"

The man held his hand cupped around his ear as he awaited my answer.

"Real… worlds."

"Correct! All video games are based off of worlds that I created. Or at least… Most of them are. After I introduced video games to your planet's population, they started to make their own. This small action was what started my brainstorming. This is where my experiment begins! I'm placing you into a world to make alterations to it."

"Why? You have that book of yours. Just write them in yourself."

"That is the problem, my friend. If I do that, then I know what will happen. I want to be surprised for once in my long life. I want to be excited about something that I have no power over!"

All of this… is just for his personal gain? He's tearing me away from my own world, my family, and my life just so that he can have some fun?

"Look! This is that planet's story and you've already altered it! These pages used to be filled but now they're all blank! All of your actions and the people on that planet will never be foretold in this book! Finally, you'll be making your own choices! Finally, I'll be surprised!"

The man held the book up high above his head. He was over ecstatic. He was overjoyed as he let himself laugh as loudly as he could. All while I was… angry.

My hand was violently twitching over my handgun I had holstered.

After what felt like an eternity of listening to his laughing, I finally snapped. I whipped out my handgun and held it pointed directly at his head.

It took him a moment to notice what I was doing but he finally saw. He looked disappointed in my choice of action for only a brief moment. It was after that brief moment that he had on a wide grin again.

"Yes, yes! I didn't see that coming! It's brilliant!"

"Shut the fuck up! Put me back where I belong now! I don't want any part in your bullshit experiment!"

"You really want to go back to a boring systematic life? I freed you, don't you see?! Now you can make your own choices! All of your old ones were mine! This is the true beginning of your life!"

"You're… right. I'm not the old Matthew Fox. I'm just somebody that has taken control over his body. A puppet for your entertainment. That's your little scheme isn't it?

"You are FAR from a puppet, my child! You are the epitome of existence! A free thinking being! All those around you become free thinking! Finally, I won't have to write in this accursed book anymore! Hahahaha!"

"I see… Then I really am just a puppet. If that's how it is, then I'd assume the puppet master didn't see this coming."

I took my handgun and directed it to the side of my own forehead.

This changed the man's expression quickly. He was distraught. It never occurred to him that I could simply end it all on my own now that I had freewill.

There's no way I'll let this God play with me like one of his toys. He may have given me free will, but is that really a good thing? I enjoyed my old life. Sure it was what he had written down for me but it was still my life. Now that life has been forever changed. How will my life ever be the same now?

My finger slowly pulled back on the trigger as it got closer and closer to firing.

The man quickly opened up his book and started to furiously write.

"One more chance you damn God. Put me back in my world."

My words hit a brick wall and bounced off. He wasn't paying attention to me in the slightest.

"Are you listening?! I told you to send me back to my own planet!"

The God finished what he was writing and closed his book. He looked back up to me with confidence in his eyes.

"Hm? Were you saying something?"

This bastard is trying to feign ignorance! He was frantic about my action a few seconds ago!

Seeing his smug look is making me even more furious. It's as if he thinks I won't do it. That I wouldn't dare to take my "new life" in front of him.

"Well? You're going to do it aren't you?" The God taunted me with a cocky grin on his face.

Can I really do it? End my own life? I was fine with doing it on my own accord but now that he asked me I'm unsure.

"I… I." I started to shake as I kept the gun pointed at my skull. My heart was beating extremely fast and I couldn't slow it down.

"You're wasting my time."

He then vanished in front of me for a split second before he reappeared again with his face inches away from mine.

"Do it!" The God shouted in my face.

My adrenaline was already at an astronomical level. The beating of my heart had gotten so fast that I couldn't even tell them apart from each other. I was a livewire ready to be set off and the God knew it by my uneasiness. All it was going to take was a little push and he managed to accomplish it.

The mere shock of him teleporting in front of me and yelling at me caused my heart to skip one of its thousands of beats. The shock of what had happened set off all kinds of nerves in my body causing them to all perform their immediate next task. That included my trigger finger.

BANG

As fast as this journey started, it ended. The bullet flew straight through the side of my head and my body fell limp to the ground. Blood from my bullet hole poured out across the blue surface of this world. Finally, a new color had been shown to this empty plain of existence.

My life had ended… or so I thought. The blood that had poured out around me was quickly sucked back up into my head. The bullet lodged in my head was pushed out and it fell to the ground. The bullet hole on the side of my forehead closed itself, and since I'm still alive I assume my brain repaired itself as well.

"You done yet?"

The smug God was standing over me with a smirk on his face.

It took me a few seconds, but I raised my body back up slowly until I was seated on my knees. Feeling that I was still alive, I was left for a wonder. I picked up my handgun that I had dropped on the ground and observed it in my hands.

It was definitely loaded. One bullet is missing from the clip. That bullet went straight through my head. That same bullet was now lying on the ground in front of me, but I know that it went into my skull. I felt the quick shock of pain caused by it. The pain lasted for only a second and I even lost motor capabilities.

How am I still alive?

"Any damage done to himself shall be repaired. That's what I wrote in your pages. If you try to hurt yourself, the damage done will be repaired. A bullet to the brain from yourself won't be able to kill you. There is no easy way out of this."

The God was almost chuckling. An annoying little sound escaped from his lips at the end of each of his sentences.

The confusion I had in me soon dwindled down as it was replaced by a boiling rage. I lifted my gun up and pointed it at him again. The smug bastard never changed facial expressions. As he continued to think of himself as superior to me, I unloaded my gun's entire clip into him.

He had multiple bullet holes across his body and I even shot one right through his face. His body never fell limp though. He stood upright in the exact same position he was in before. Soon, his bullet holes started to heal themselves. His body was completely fixed. It was as if I had never shot him in the first place.

I had expected that wouldn't work. I still wanted to get it out of the way to help satisfy my burning anger.

"Look at what you did now. You wasted all of your ammo. How will you defend yourself now?"

Finally, I gave up on fighting the God. I holstered my handgun and sat with my arms crossed across my chest.

"Like I care about defending myself."

The God decided to take a seat in front of me as he sat the book down in front of himself.

"Let me rectify what I seem to have caused. I'll let you pick a brand new weapon."

He made four different weapons appear behind him in the air.

One was a single pointed spear. Another was a long sword. There was also a bow and arrow. Finally, there was a katana.

Considering my options, I went for the obvious choice.

"Fine… Give me that book."

The God looked stunned that I asked for the book and not any of the weapons he offered. The shocking revelation lasted for a few seconds before he started to laugh obnoxiously again.

"Good, good! You'll pose for a good amount of entertainment! Sadly, that isn't one of the options, but I'll give you a reward for being so clever. You tell me what kind of weapon you want and I'll create it for you. I know you're a clever kid so don't try anything like a sword that kills all that it touches. That would hardly provide any surprises for me."

He picked up the book in front of himself and was prepared to write.

Of course he wouldn't trust me to write in his precious book. God forbid that I write him out of existence.

"Why should I even care about this crap? What am I going to get out of your little experiment?"

There's no end reward for me. It's all just for some entertainment for him.

"How about this? I'll let you go back to your old world once you beat the game so to speak."

I can go home if Sephiroth is beaten?

"And I would still have freewill?"

"Of course!"

That… sounds good enough to me.

"Fine. You'd better be listening because I'm only going to say this once."

"I'm all ears."

"Give me two weapons. Both should have three materia slots and two of those on each should be linkable with each other."

"You don't want any kind of materia in these?"

"I didn't know that was an option. All right, what are my choices?"

"You have a good understanding of the game's world. You choose."

"Fine, just give me a fire and an elemental in one and I guess a speed plus and a time in the other."

"Alright, then we're done. Do you have any preferences on how they will look?"

"The elemental one will be a halberd. The speed plus one will be a three pronged spear. I'm sure you can understand what I mean by that. If not, then I'll tell you that it's essentially a trident except the middle spike will be slightly longer than the other two. The pole for both will be gray and I expect them to be made out of a fine metal. I'm going to guess that mythril is the best that Gaia has to offer so make them out of that."

"All… right… Done!"

He finished writing and my two weapons I asked for appeared in front of me. The designs were exactly as I asked for and they looked like they were both finely crafted. I could see that both of them were of equal length if you counted the spear on the top of the halberd. Both of them had the materia I requested inserted inside of them and I could tell that two of the slots were definitely linkable.

I grabbed both of them and I placed the speed plus one onto my back. Usually, I would think these straps would be for an assault rifle but this will do as a replacement. It would seem that I have enough straps to also hook my halberd onto my back as well.

They were both about my height. They were only short a few inches so it would appear that they won't drag across the ground as I walked.

I held the halberd in both my hands and gave it a few good swings.

Heavy.

The thing was pretty heavy. I don't have that much muscle so it'll take both my arms to be able to wield one of these. With time, however, I think I can achieve what I'm hoping for.

I brought the halberd closer to myself and I inspected the green materia inside of it. It had an orange flame in the middle of it and it felt slightly hot to the touch. My best bet is this is how people would tell materia apart from others.

It would seem that the God followed my requests to the T. After another few swings with the halberd, I hooked it into my remaining straps.

"You all ready to go now?"

The God question me. He looked like he was going to start bouncing up and down from his excitement.

Despicable.

"Yeah, but I have a couple of questions before I go."

"Alright, alright. Hurry up!"

He's an impatient little bastard, isn't he?

"What happened to my bandana? You should know."

"That? Here, here. It fell off when you flew past my dimension."

My bandana appeared in front of me and slowly fell down. My hands quickly darted out and I caught it. That's an entire load off my mind.

I rolled up my sleeve and saw that my chocobracelet was where I usually had my bandana. I uncuffed the bracelet and wrapped my bandana in its place. After that, I rolled down my sleeve covering it. Then I took my chocobracelet and cuffed it around my left arm again.

"Better. Now you'll be telling me why I have this bracelet and summon materia."

"There gifts! Take them and go!"

His voice was starting to be filled with anger. He was growing impatient with my constant questioning. He had started to twitch slightly and he was doing his best to keep himself calm by tapping his foot rhythmically.

"One more question…"

Seeing the rage surface on his face was slightly pleasurable.

"How the hell am I a citizen in Midgar?"

"I made you one! Now get the fuck out!"

The God shouted at me and the sound waves from it were clearly visible. He shouted so loudly that I was actually pushed back into a portal behind me.

The portal was simply a tear in dimensions that connected his to Gaia.

I stumbled backwards until my back met the door of my personal room.

The portal started to slowly close as the God waved good bye to me.

The God had started to laugh maniacally before the portal finally closed silencing him in the process.

With that being said and done, I feel a bit better now knowing that I'll be able to go home when the main cast beats Sephiroth.

How long will that be? A month? Two months? I have nothing to go by since this isn't a game anymore.

Honestly, I don't have to lift a finger. Once the game is beaten so to speak, I'll be able to go home. The main cast had no problems beating the game on their own so I don't have to do a thing. I can just sit back and carry on with my job at Shinra. Eventually, I'll start to get a really good income and I'll be able to support myself in this world.

It would be nice to be able to save Aeris though. Seeing her die in the game was hard enough. I don't know how I could handle it if it happened in front of me.

Whatever… It'll be for the best if I just-

"Hey, Matt. I have a question to ask ya."

As I was standing in my very cramped room, Reno opened my door.

His sudden entrance startled me and caused me to nearly fall over in this small room. Luckily, it was small so I fell into a wall and managed to recover.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Damn. This is the room you were given? This place can hardly be called a room yo."

Reno never stepped inside of my room. Instead, he merely poked his head through the door and looked at how small it was.

There was hardly the space for him to step inside anyways.

"Yeah, they saved the best room for me. Welcome to my humble abode. Please remember to take off your coat before you come in."

Reno stifled a laugh as he pulled his head out of my room.

"I'll take the tour later. I'm actually heading out on a little job yo. I was going to bring a few MPs along. You want in?"

Job? Damn… What happened yesterday in the game? I think it was just the first reactor being blown up right? Today should be the fifth reactor and that means… Cloud is probably meeting Aeris soon. Reno will be going to the church to try and take her.

That only spells bad news for me. It's in my best interest to stay out of the main cast's way as much as possible now. Going down there would only cause problems.

Then again, standing around doing nothing is not my strong suit. My body refuses to be caged up for long periods of time. If I'm left here, I might go insane in this little closet. Sure I have a large building to explore, but if there's nothing to do in it then there's no point to it!

I stood in my tightly cramped room with a thoughtful expression.

"You know what? To hell with it. I'll come with. Anything beats hanging out in this room."

I took three steps forward and was outside of my room with Reno. That's all it took. Three steps and I was out of that room. God it's small.

"Hey, anything beats having more work yo. Why do you think I'm rounding MPs up in the first place?"

Reno smiled as he patted me on the shoulder.

I had to hold myself back from laughing even though I knew he was probably including me. We MPs are just meant to help lessen his work load. That's something Reno gladly appreciates I'm sure.

"Nice new gear. I didn't see you with those yesterday."

Reno was directing his gaze to my halberd and spear on my back.

"Oh these? I was going to keep them in that room but as you can tell…"

Reno looked back inside the room and took note again on how small it was.

"Right, right. It's not a common sight is all. Most MPs like to stick to the norm with their various kinds of firearms."

"I guess I'm not a part of the norm."

"I guess not."

"So are we heading out later or…?"

"Nah, better to get it done as fast as possible. We're leaving to sector five right now yo."

"All right. Lead the- Wait!"

Before I could finish what I was saying, I remembered something.

I darted back into my little hall closet leaving a slightly confused Reno behind.

I looked around the room and found my uniform's helmet and put it on. Man, this thing is tighter than hell! I can fell the blood flow getting cut off from my brain! How the hell do people deal with this?

Oh well. It's for the best if I wear this thing. I don't want the main cast seeing my face or anything.

Before I exited this tiny hell hole, I searched around it for an extra clip for my handgun. It didn't take long to find a few of them lying around. I grabbed one and loaded it into my gun. I had two others left that I decided to put on my belt for later usage.

After finishing my preparations, I went back out and shut the door behind me.

"All right, now lead the way."

Reno shook his head in disappointment before he started walking off to the elevator.

"I can't even begin to understand how you guys wear that thing yo."

Honestly, neither can I.

The elevator opened and the two of us entered it. The door shut behind us and Reno pushed the button to take us down to the lobby.

My adventures in this new world start now.

* * *

**Chapter 3 complete!**

**A bit of a heavy chapter for Matt psychologically as he has a meeting with the God of everything.**

**I almost left dear old Matt with only a handgun here, but giving him these two new weapons will be a whole lot more fun.**

**So there's still no actual scenes from the game going on, but as we can all tell that'll start next chapter.**

**We're still hanging out with Reno so let's try and get along with him, shall we?**

**The next chapter will finally start the action in the story with… wait for it… wait… BARRELS! How else would Cloud get Aeris' affection points up without em?**

**That about wraps it up so please remember to leave a review about what you liked/disliked.**


	4. Chapter 4

**It's a new new new chapter!**

**This one's a bit on the short side so my apologies for that. Hopefully, what is written will satisfy everyone. If not, then the next chapter should definitely be on the longer than usual side.**

**No barrels were harmed in writing this.**

* * *

Reno and I grouped up with the other MPs he had gathered and I could feel the looks they were giving me.

My guess is that I'm just some weirdo to them for carrying around a halberd and a spear.

There was five other MPs. If you counted me, that would make six. None of the others seemed to be a part of the Repair Division so they're more than likely just simple officers. Each of them was either sporting a SMG or an assault rifle. Guess they're going heavy duty on this job.

We marched out of the main building and made our way for the train. All of us boarded on the rest of the group immediately took seats on the train. It was then that I realized how impractical having two spears on your back was.

It's impossible for me to sit down!

There was no getting by the fact that I couldn't take a seat with these things I had hooked to my back. They forced me to stand in the aisle for a second time. All of the MPs were quietly laughing and sneaking in points at me. Meanwhile, Reno appeared to be catching some extra Zs on the train.

Not being able to sit is something that I will have to correct.

The train came to a full stop at our destination in the sector five slums and we all disembarked from the train. We marched our way through the streets in what I'd assume is the direction towards the sector five church.

The MPs were organized in a line behind Reno while I was in the front walking next to his side.

The citizens around us were all staring at us. They snuck in whispers whenever they thought we weren't looking. Yeah, I suppose having a group of MPs rolling around with a bunch of heavy duty guns would send people into a slight worry.

Ignoring the on looking people, I decided that it would be for the best to ask about the mission now rather than later. Even though I already had a good feeling on what it was.

"So… what exactly are we going to do?"

Reno was quick to respond as he kept up his walking speed.

"We're heading out to a little church in this sector yo. There should be a flower girl in that church. Our job is to bring her back to headquarters unharmed. You all hear that?! Unharmed!"

Reno turned his head back to the rest of the group while he continued to walk forward. The MPs violently shook their heads to show their understanding.

Seeing their answers Reno turned his head back around.

While I'm here, it would be good to get some more understanding of how things work.

"Hey, Reno…"

"What is it yo?"

"By any chance, do you know how to use materia? I actually just got mine so it's all new to me."

I tried to come up with the best sounding excuse.

It seemed decent enough because Reno didn't give me any strange looks.

"What kind you have yo? Magic? Support?"

"Both, and a summon if you can believe it or not."

Reno shifted his gaze to me at my mention of a summon materia.

That might not have been my best idea. They are rare and unique after all. There's a high chance that Shinra might want to get their hands on a lot of them. Reno might have been ordered to gather them as a side job for all I know.

"Summon, eh?"

Here come the questions. After my answers comes Reno committing homicide. The victim? Obviously me.

Good bye cruel world. I hardly knew ye.

"Y-Yeah, are they special?"

"Considering their power… yeah, I'd say so. What's yours?"

"I have no idea." I replied blatantly.

"Where'd you get it?"

"It was a gift from an old relative."

"I see…"

Reno kept his hard gaze on me even though we continued walking. How he didn't manage to bump into something amazed me. It must be all of that Turk training.

After a few seconds, Reno let out a deep breath and plastered a smile on his face.

"Sorry, about all that yo. I'm a questioning kind of guy. You wanted to know about materia right?"

"Y-Yeah… that would be great."

His sudden change from serious to carefree is odd. It's like he turns his job on for a second and then flips it back off.

"Magic materia is simple. Merely concentrate hard enough on what it is and use it."

"So if it's fire, then I would concentrate on making a fire ball?"

"Right. All it takes is some willpower and sometimes a little imagination yo. Don't forget that this stuff takes a serious taxing on your body though. Too much usage of materia and you'll be left motionless. You'll be like a vegetable until your energy comes back yo."

"What about support materia? It seems like it would be more difficult than magic."

Reno chuckled a little before continuing in my materia lesson.

"That's what most people think yeah. Support is just support yo. That's all you need to know."

Support is support? I don't get it at all.

"So… if it's an elemental, how would that work?"

"Look, if you understand magic materia then support will be no problem yo."

Huh… Alright then. Well, having this knowledge is at least somewhat good. Maybe now I'll be able to cast a spell if I'm lucky enough.

"Would you look at that? We're already here yo."

Indeed, we did arrive at the church at the end of Reno's tutorial.

It was a bit larger than I thought it would be, but that was hardly going to surprise me at this point.

Reno entered through the front doors while giving us a signal to stay close.

We entered through the building a little behind Reno and we were met by the sight of Cloud and Aeris.

Already, my mind was in a flutter from the fact that I knew that this was going to happen. Being able to know the future is a pleasure and a curse. If this small event was going to take place like it did in the game, then who's to say that larger events won't? Also, what will my presence affect? Everything could be thrown into a spiral just because I say hi or something. Stupid butterfly effect.

Noticing that we entered in the church, Cloud stepped forward to confront us.

"I don't know who you are, but…"

He shook his head a few times before continuing.

"You don't know me…"

A few more shakes and a couple of nods.

How did anybody not see this as strange?

He took a step forward towards Reno and a few of the MPs pointed their guns at him.

"Oh yeah… I know you. That uniform…"

Reno looked past Cloud towards Aeris.

"Hey sis, this one's a little weird." Reno stated jokingly.

The other five MPs started to chuckle behind Reno.

"Shut up! Shinra Spy!"

Cloud seemed to be getting slightly mad now. The guards, however, continued to chuckle.

One of the guards shifted themselves over to Reno. The entire time they kept their aim on Cloud.

"Reno! Want this punk taken out?"

Reno shrugged before he replied to the MP.

"I haven't decided yet. Matt, what do you think?"

Uh… Hello?! Did he ask me if I want Cloud killed?! That's… just no!

"No way!"

I probably sounded a little more put off by the idea then I was supposed to but I couldn't hide it. There was no way you were going to get me to tell somebody to kill Cloud!

"You hear that? My friend here is a nice guy yo."

"Like I care." Cloud quickly retorted.

"Please don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!" Aeris shouted.

She was obviously worried about them. Maybe a little too worried about them but then again, flowers are a rarity here.

She ran to the back of the church while signaling for Cloud to follow. Reluctantly, he went with her.

After seeing the two go into the back, Reno walked forward and onto the flowerbed. Ah yes. It's this scene.

I couldn't hear from here but Reno was muttering something to himself. He turned around to face the rest of us and signaled for us to come along.

"All right. Get to work… Oh!"

He started to walk to the back of the church when he suddenly turned around and ran back through the flowerbed.

"And don't step on the flowers."

He then turned back around and walked through the back door in the church.

I had to resist the urge to face palm as everybody else was outraged at this.

"You just stepped on them yourself!"

"They're ruined!"

"You're gonna catch holy hell!"

"Are you blind?!"

"I wanted to pick one too."

The four other MPs and I turned to the MP that made the last statement about picking a flower. Our cold gazes caused him to shrink in his shoes as he waved his hands in front of himself.

"F-For my kid! I-It wouldn't be for me in any way! Aha! Haha! Hahaha!"

He started to laugh awkwardly in an attempt to diffuse the situation. It worked in the end. The laugh was so awkward that nobody really wanted to keep their gaze on him.

With that scene ended, we proceeded into the back of the church where the others had gone.

Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to catch up with Reno. They were also ready to take fire if need be.

When we arrived into the back, we were met by an entirely busted up room. There was a missile that was smashed through one of the church's walls. It broke most of the walkways and stairs making it look like it would be hard to get around.

That didn't seem to stop Cloud and Aeris from getting up to the second floor though.

"There they are! The Ancient is getting away yo! Attack! Attack!"

Reno pointed up to where Cloud and Aeris were standing. The two of them were separated by the missile in between them.

Hearing their superior's orders, the MPs opened fire.

Holy hell! Their unloading entire clips in Aeris' direction! I have the feeling that Hojo wouldn't enjoy having a potential specimen be killed without him having the chance to study it first!

"Ah!"

Aeris was caught off guard by the amount of bullets they were shooting at her. This in turn caused her to go tumbling down the missile. She continued to roll until she finally fell off of it at the bottom.

"Did we get her?" One of the MPs questioned.

He didn't get a verbal response from Reno. Instead he was met by Reno slapping his gun out of his hands.

"Idiot! I told you all to not hurt her yo! If she ends up dead, it'll be you lot losing your jobs."

Reno seemed a little flabbergasted by the entire situation that played out. The other MPs were left confused.

"But you said to attack!" One of the MPs stated.

"Not the girl yo!... Whatever. Get down there and see if she's alive." Reno replied.

A few of the MPs hoped down to the ground floor and started to walk over to Aeris.

Either she was only pretending to be really hurt or she's a fast healer because she bolted back up.

How the hell did they not manage to hit her with a single one of those bullets?! They must have shot at least a hundred in her direction! Who trains these guys!?

Aeris started to edge further back practically cornering herself. She looked back up to Cloud looking for some kind of assistance from him.

"Cloud, help!" Aeris shouted.

"Listen here, missy. Be a good girl and come quietly. No need to get your boyfriend involved." One of the MPs stated.

The group of three MPs started to edge themselves closer and closer to Aeris. It was then that calamity struck them.

A barrel came careening from above and fell on the head of one of the MPs. The barrel smashed apart on contact and the MP it struck fell to the ground now unconscious.

"What the?!" One of the other MPs exclaimed while looking up.

Poor guy. I could've warned them about that too. Eh… It's better if Aeris gets away right? I mean, if we caught her now then she wouldn't be able to save Marlene from sector seven.

While one MP looked up for more barrels and another MP checked on their fallen friend, Aeris made a mad dash towards some stairs.

"Damn! Matt, you and the others head around this missile and capture her yo." Reno ordered.

Without much time to think it over, the other MPs started to rush past me and around the missile. They somehow were able to drag me along with them as they went to trap Aeris.

We went down the stairs that she was going to run up as the other two MPs slowly approached her from her flank.

She was caught on both sides. However, it wasn't too long before a barrel came rolling down the stairs we were standing on.

The barrel smacked into one of the two guys on the stairs with me taking him down with it. Luckily, me and another MP were able to side step out of the barrel's deadly path.

Again the MPs looked up at Cloud but this time they tried shooting at him. Cloud expertly dodged and even blocked some of the bullets with his large buster sword.

His hand then seemed to be covered in some kind of light. In the blink of an eye, the two MPs on Aeris' flank were zapped with electricity! They fell to the ground seemingly defeated.

Was that Bolt!? That looked painful!

With her flank now clear, Aeris ran away from the stairs and climbed up a ladder to the second floor.

The final active MPs were me and some other guy. The other MP looked terrified after watching his friends get zapped by a crazy guy with chocobo hair.

"I can't take this!" The MP exclaimed in a panic.

He ran back up the stairs we went down and straight past Reno.

Guess that leaves me? Why the hell isn't Reno trying? Oh right. He's Reno.

Being the last one remaining sounds cool but now Cloud's attention will be solely on me. I don't know how well I can do against a guy with Mako enhancements.

Figuring I can't just abandon the mission or else it would affect Reno's opinion of me, I went up the ladder that Aeris climbed.

I had almost caught up to her when she suddenly turned around. We were face to helmet and I knew what Cloud was planning.

It's like he's freaking Donkey Kong. You know he's going to throw some barrels at you. It's his go to plan at this point.

Aeris took a few steps back and I pulled out my halberd.

As predictable as he could have been, Cloud dropped another barrel in front of Aeris and it came rolling down towards me.

With not much else to do, I stabbed my halberd into the barrel to stop it from rolling into me.

The force it had gained from falling and rolling was a little too much though. It continued to push back on my halberd and I quickly realized how bad my situation was. This thing was heavier then it looked! It's no wonder why it knocked people out so easily!

With the barrel still pushing against me, it caused me to try and push up on it more. What a poor decision that was.

I soon started to realize that I was lifting the barrel up above my head with my halberd. It didn't stop there though. I found myself off balance as the barrel started to drag me in the opposite direction of Aeris.

The barrel was falling back to the ground and I was being lifted up! I was starting to roll down the stairs! I was rolling down the stairs in the most awkward of manners!

When the barrel was above me, I was on the ground holding it up with my halberd. When the barrel was below me, I was in the air hanging on to my halberd!

This continued for a few revolutions before it ended at the bottom of the stairs. Luckily, it had stopped just before the long fall that was awaiting me at the end.

With control again, I managed to remove my halberd from the barrel and I looked back for where Aeris had gone.

She was now heading up the final flight of stairs to regroup with Cloud.

This is risky, but I'm going to try and make it look like I tried my best.

Willpower and maybe some imagination is all I need right?

While holding my halberd in my left hand, I tried to focus on making a fireball in my right hand.

This ended poorly when my halberd lit itself on fire instead. The sudden increase in heat caused me to drop it without a second thought.

The entire thing lit a flame. Not just the axe portion or the spear portion. It was the whole fucking thing! I hope that's only because I suck or something.

I recovered my now slightly warm halberd and reattached it to my back as I looked around for Aeris.

She had made it out of the church along with Cloud. Well, that's what I wanted anyways so I consider myself a winner as well.

"Yo! Did they get away?" Reno shouted up to me.

"Yeah, they jumped out the roof it looks like!"

"Shit! Hurry up! We might still be able to catch them yo!"

Reno charged back into the church's main room while I made a desperate attempt to catch up with him.

We both went outside and looked at the roof of the church. Nothing. There was no sign of them on the roof.

Reno sighed in defeat.

"Well… there goes that. Hey, Matt?"

Reno turned to me.

"You want me to go find them?"

"Nah, let's go grab a bite to eat before I have to go report this yo."

Reno placed his hands into his coat's pockets and started to walk away. Not wanting to be left behind, I followed him.

We walked for a little while before we entered into a small restaurant. It was fairly empty with a few open tables and a couple of free seats at the bar. Reno took a seat at the bar in one of the bar stools. I took the free one next to him.

I wonder what they eat here on Gaia? Please tell me it's not chocobo!

What I'd assume was the waiter here walked up to us while cleaning a glass mug.

"What're ya buyin?" He asked in a surprisingly deep voice.

Half of me wanted to ask if he was related to a certain merchant but my other half held me back.

"Grab us both a lobster, Mickey." Reno replied.

There's lobster here?! Thank the sweet heavens! I thought I'd have to eat some freaky kind of creature!

The waiter left without a word. In about ten minutes, he returned with two plates.

W-What the hell is that on the plates?! It's a crazily mutated lobster or something! That does not look like it belongs in my stomach! Why is half of it blue?! Is that a claw sticking out of the top of its head?! Why does it have two tails?! And is that an eye on its butt?! What the fuck?!

The waiter placed both of the plates in front of a slightly grossed out me and Reno while holding out one of his hands.

"500 gil." The waiter stated bluntly.

Reno handed the waiter the requested money. After confirming that it was indeed the requested amount, he smiled.

"Heh heh heh heh… Thank you."

Ok… That waiter is definitely confirmed for being a familiar merchant.

Reno started to break off parts of the lobster and eat the insides out of it. He looked over to see me in my grossed out state.

"Well? Dig in yo. Wait any longer and the insides won't be as good." Reno pointed.

"R-Right…" I said while reluctantly breaking off a leg.

The rest of my time was spent trying to willpower myself into eating a weird looking lobster. Eventually, I did manage to eat it and it wasn't half bad in the end. I'm not sure if that was only because I closed my eyes with each bite, or if it was genuinely good. Maybe looks can be deceiving.

Reno and I finished eating and exited the restaurant.

"Here. Take this yo."

Reno handed me some coins that I'd guess was gil. Counting it all up, I now had 1000 gil.

"Why? Seriously, why are you doing all of this?"

"Think of it as your prize for being the only MP in that group who didn't get their ass handed to them yo. I've gotta go give that report now. Have fun doing whatever yo."

Reno left me to wander the streets alone now loaded with some money. Not the best of ideas.

Since I'm already out and about, I might as well go find somebody that sells materia. A restore materia would be great to have considering the amount of money it'll save me instead of buying a load of potions.

Within a few minutes, I managed to come across what looked like a materia shop. There was an old man manning the shop.

"Got any restore materia on sale?" I asked now standing at the shop's front counter.

"Always do. That'll be 750 gil, pal."

The shop keeper sounds like he doesn't like me that much. It must be the MP uniform. I'm a likeable guy right?

"One please." I stated while handing him the necessary amount.

He counted it up and pushed it aside. He then grabbed a restore materia from under a counter and handed it to me. After receiving said materia, I placed it into my chocobracelet.

Before I left, I noticed that he had an elongated black sling bag in the back. It looked big enough to hold both of my weapons without difficulty.

"Would you also sell that bag in the back?"

"What? This old thing? You want to buy it?"

He picked up the sling bag and placed it on the counter.

"Yeah, how much for it?"

"250" He stated quickly.

That wouldn't bother me if that wasn't all of my money!

"Surely, this bag isn't worth that much. You said it was old yourself. I'll go for… 100."

"Not happenin'. The price stays."

This old guy is brutal!

"What about 150? This thing doesn't look like it's worth more than 50 gil so that's saying something."

"I'm not budging. If you don't buy it now, I'm raising the price."

Somebody didn't have their morning happy pills.

Knowing that he won't lower the price, I reluctantly handed him the rest of my money.

With his money in hand, he tossed me the bag.

I exited the shop now a lesser man than before.

In the end it doesn't matter. I now have a bag to hold these two weapons in. The bag was actually a bit smaller than the two weapons so it was impossible to close it with them inside of it. Luckily, they were far enough in that they won't fall out of it while I'm carrying the bag.

I threw the bag's strap over my head and let it hang off my back. Now I'll be able to sit on the train! Hurray for bags!

* * *

**Another chapter comes to a close.**

**So how was that barrel action? I hope it was fun for everybody. I liked it.**

**So the next chapter picks up the pacing of the story a bit. It'll also start the usage of different point of views. So there's that.**

**Please remember to leave a review on what you liked/disliked. It's always appreciated.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Bum Bum Buh! New chapter jump scares!**

**This chapter is definitely on the longer side and it probably won't happen again for this fic. I just wanted this one to end at a certain point.**

**Besides that, we have new point of views coming into play here and I'm not sure on whether or not people want me to announce what point of view it may be in. I will definitely, however, show the change of point of view with a line break.**

**Well, I'll stop talking now. I know when I'm not wanted…**

* * *

Reno was meeting with Heidegger in his office. He had to meet with him to give him a full report on the failure of capturing the Ancient. It wasn't something that Reno enjoyed doing, but Heidegger was in charge of the Turks ever since Veld's desertion.

Reno had already handed the gruff man his report on the mission and he didn't look pleased.

"What are you Turks even good for?! None of you seem to be capable of even simple tasks! It's just one girl!"

Heidegger slammed his fist onto his desk in a fit of rage. The force of the impact caused the entire desk to shake. A few items even wobbled over from the shockwave.

Reno sat lazily in one of Heidegger's office chairs with his legs crossed and his hands behind his head. He stared lazily at the ceiling in Heidegger's extravagant office.

"What can I say? We always try to give it all for you yo." Reno replied in a monotone voice.

Heidegger knew fully well when Reno was being sarcastic with him, and he almost wanted to jump across his desk to deck him in the face. Somehow, he managed to refrain from doing so.

Instead, he sat himself back into his overly luxurious chair. He started to stroke his long beard in an attempt to calm himself.

"So there really is a SOLDIER rebelling against us again."

"He had the eyes, but he didn't seem to have all his marbles yo."

"Gya haa haa! I don't expect them to have any brains! Still, it is troubling. You don't get into SOLDIER for nothing."

"You want him taken care of?" Reno asked while still looking up at the ceiling.

This question ruined Heidegger's calming tactics as he went into a rage again.

"Don't go out asking for more than you can handle! Until this Ancient is taken care of you will be getting no new missions. And don't even think about asking for any more time off!"

Seeing that the Turk was going to say anything back, Heidegger grinned before leaning back into his chair. He felt as if he might have scared submission into the Turk.

Unbeknownst to the grizzly bear of a man, Reno was rolling his eyes as he continued to sit idly in his chair.

Feeling victorious, the large man decided to take the chance and prod the Turk for other things that annoyed him.

"And what's with you reporting to that Tseng before me all the time? I am BOTH of your superiors. I expect to be the one informed of anything before any of your little friends."

Reno had indeed gone to give his report to Tseng before he went to Heidegger. Reno knew that Heidegger only knew of this because it was what he has always done. Once a mission was completed or failed, he would report to Tseng before Heidegger.

Reno leaned forward and uncrossed his legs now having his feet placed flat across the ground. He then placed his hands onto his knees as he got ready to stand up.

"I'll try to fix my terrible habits yo." Reno stated in the same monotone from before.

Reno rose from his seat and started to walk out of Heidegger's office when he was stopped by the bearded individual.

"Hold on! What's with the mentioning of a MP in here? What did he have to do with any of this?"

Heidegger was holding Reno's report even closer to his rough face. He hadn't noticed it when he first read it because of the boiling anger he had after reading failure at the top of the report. Now, however, he was fully aware of the mentioning of a MP in the report. One by the name of Matthew Fox.

"You wanted a fully detailed report didn't you? That's what I gave you. The kid joined your regimen of mindless soldiers not too long ago yo."

Reno finished talking to Heidegger and he could tell that the giant of a man was getting mad. He quickly exited the room without a second thought.

Heidegger was two seconds away from tearing the report in half and charging at the red haired individual for insulting his entire department. The sound of his office door closing snapped him away from his bull rage and he was left to think.

"Matthew Fox, eh? Gya haa haa haa!"

Heidegger's awful laugh echoed throughout the entire Shinra headquarters causing everyone to believe that there was a dying horse inside.

* * *

ACHOO!

Ugh… Who's talking about me? And thank the sweet lord that dying horse noise finally stopped. I thought that noise was going to haunt me in my dreams for a second there.

There isn't much left for me to do today so I guess I'll go sleep in my luxurious room. If I don't end up with back problems after this, I'll be amazed.

Tomorrow is essentially my judgment day. Whether I go along with the main cast or not. I had might as well at least make an effort at joining Cloud and the others.

I wonder what they'll do. Crazily storm into the building attacking everything in their path? Or maybe they'll go up against the great fifty nine flights of stairs boss. Either way they'll end up on the fifty-ninth floor since they don't have access to the sixtieth and beyond.

I'm going to be quite the time saver aren't I? This all access key is going to be pretty useful.

Well, I hope that this all goes well in the end.

* * *

The Next Day

Rumblings were felt for a good couple of minutes after the sector seven plate came crashing down. All across Midgar people knew something big had happened. Something far larger than just a reactor being blown up.

President Shinra made it a priority to make a quick announcement on what happened. Shortly after the sector seven plate fell, he gave a fully detailed speech about how the terrorists called AVALACHE had just successfully bombed the sector seven pillar. He rallied the people into a fit of rage against the terrorists and gained their allegiance to Shinra.

The people were filled with anger. They had been wary of the terrorists ever since they started these large scale attacks on Midgar's reactors. This was crossing the line though. Now these terrorists weren't only attacking their livelihood, but they were also attacking their very lives. They were practically about to start a witch hunt for these terrorists because of this atrocity against them.

These very same terrorists, however, knew all too well what really happened. Being at the scene of the crime helped greatly in their amazing deducing. Shinra had blown up the pillar merely to get rid of them. The large corporation didn't care about losing a portion of its city nor did it care about the many lives that would die that day. All it cared about was getting rid of the terrorists that were attacking its profit makers. Its precious reactors.

Three of their members had died fighting and another of their friends was kidnapped. With anger and determination fueling their hearts, they made it their next mission to storm the Shinra headquarters.

After arriving in front of the building, the group of terrorists was met by a mob of people grouping around it. Some were raging with signs demanding that Shinra needed to find the group called AVALANCHE. They stated that it was the company's duty in order to protect them. Others in the crowd were against these people. They believed that Shinra was already doing its best to find the terrorists and that they have no obligated duty to act now.

"We want retribution!" One rioter screamed.

"My family was killed by those monsters… *Sniff*… How can they be left to roam the streets?!" Another rioter shouted through tears.

"How are you all this impatient!? Shinra can't go storming the streets for a little group! This takes time!" An opposing rioter shouted at the other group of rioters.

Truly, the city had been thrown into a state of almost anarchy from this single event.

Things got even worse when one of the rioters threw a punch at another in the mob. This caused an immediate stir in the wrong direction as others started to fight amongst each other. What used to be a yelling crowd was now turned into a battle pit of people.

The MPs in front of the doors shot a few rounds into the air to startle the crowd. In the end it worked and they were directly facing the MPs.

"Clear out of here before we place you all under arrest!" One of the MPs shouted at the crowd.

The crowd dispersed out of fear and the group of terrorists were forced to hide before they were noticed. One of the terrorists was unable to hold himself back as he wanted to charge right into the building and start shooting the place up.

"Damn Shinra!"

The large man yelled as he tried to run to the front doors. His two companions, however, held him back and pulled him aside.

"What are you thinking?! You can't just go running in their without a plan!" The girl in their group shouted at the large man.

"I'm sorry, Tifa… It's just they make me so damn mad! Thinkin' their all high and mighty! We saw what they did back there! They murdered all those people and put the blame on us! Bastards…" The large man punched a wall weakly with his real hand.

"We all know what they did but our opinions don't matter against theirs. That still doesn't give us a reason to charge in blindly without a plan. We should think about this before we continue. Cloud, what do you think?" Tifa looked over to her blonde spiked hair friend hoping for an answer.

"After that riot, I don't think the front is an option. Too much security. Maybe there's a back entrance?" Cloud stated thinking logically about the situation.

The front was indeed being heavily guarded after what had just transpired. The number of guards that were guarding it on the outside already outnumbered them at least five to one. Who knows how many more there could be inside the building?

"That sounds like a good idea. We should sneak into the building. It'll save us a lot of pointless fighting." Tifa said in enjoyment of Cloud's idea.

"What about you, Barret?" Tifa asked the large man in their group.

"I don't like it! But… that don't matter I s'pose." Barret stated seeing that his allies were already in favor of sneaking in.

"Then we should find a way in without alerting the whole building." Cloud said before he was about to walk off in search of a new entrance.

"Hey, you oughta know this building pretty well being EX-SOLDIER and all." Barret said before following Cloud.

Cloud stopped in his tracks as he tried to respond.

"Actually, no. This would be my first time coming here." Cloud said in an almost confused state.

"Well… You're in luck cuz I've actually been here once back when I had both my arms. Every floor above the sixtieth is special and requires a special keycard for access. That must be where they're holding Aeris." Barret said as Tifa now joined them in their walk.

After carefully scanning around the entire building, the crew of three found a stairwell access and made their ascension up it. There was a loss of sanity for some, and there's no telling if their legs will ever be the same again. But the three heroes managed to defeat the grand boss of all bosses. The Grand Super Overlord Staircase Supreme Monster. With their hardest task now behind them, they carried on in their mission to save their friend Aeris.

They exited what will now haunt them in their dreams for the next few days exhausted. They entered into a blank room with no true reason for its existence. It was simply a floor that connected the one above it and the one below it. The fifty-ninth floor.

There was one lone guard in the room with them. One that was oddly pacing around the room with an unusually long bag on his back. The bag also contained even longer weapons sticking out of it. A halberd and a trident like spear.

The guard seemed to notice the newcomers in the room and seemed to contemplate on what to do next. He then made his way over to them.

"Excuse me? Are you two with this man?" The guard pointed out to Tifa and Barret standing next to Cloud.

Cloud looked to Tifa and then Barret. Barret had a mischievous look on his face and Cloud seemed to know what he was thinking.

Grab him.

Without a moment's notice, Cloud grabbed the guard's bag off of his back while Barret grabbed a hold of him and swung him around to face the opposite way. Barret held onto the guard's shoulder and had his gun arm pointed at the guard's back.

"I-Is there a problem?" The guard asked feeling slightly worried now.

"What kind of access you have round these parts?" Barret asked while poking his gun arm against the guard's back.

"All access, but I don't believe I should be giving that out to you guys." The guard said in a now slightly calmer tone.

"That's fine. We only need the card. No need to drag you round here while we storm your employer." Barret said while Tifa was about to start rummaging through the guard's pockets.

This threw the guard into defcon level 2.

"Wait! Y-You guys need me! I mean, look at yourselves! You guys can't wander around here looking like that! Only the blonde guy looks like he belongs!" The guard shouted while dodging Tifa's hands trying to enter his pockets.

"Don't matter. We ain't gonna work with no Shinra employee that's for damn sure!" Barret said getting annoyed on how they were being hung up on this one guy.

"Hang on a second! Just take me along if you're going to be invading this place. I can keep the guards from attacking you on sight!" The guard said while he swatted Tifa's arms away from his pockets.

"How are we s'pose to know you won't go running your mouth? We oughta silence you right now for the ruckus you're causin''!" Barret said while he shoved his gun arm into the guard's back.

"Ok look, here take the key. I'm just saying for your own safety to take me along with you. Having a guy with SOLDIER clothing on is good and all but it'll be better if I simply accompany you. I happen to know the layout of the upper floors. What are you looking for?" The guard handed Tifa his all access key card to prevent her from rummaging through his pockets.

Tifa took the card with a somewhat puzzled expression.

The guard had just gone from not wanting to cooperate to fully willing in a matter of a few seconds.

"How do you know we're looking for somethin'," Barret said catching onto the holes in the guard's statement, "Cloud, this guy is ticking me off!"

This caused the guard to start sweating a lot more than a normal human should as he started to fear for his very life.

"We don't have any time for this. We're all heading on the elevator and you're going to explain yourself." Cloud shot a piercing gaze to the guard as he walked to the elevators.

"Move it!" Barret pushed the guard towards the elevator.

The now group of four entered into the elevator and closed it.

The guard was forced to stand with his back against the glass in the elevator while Barret kept his aim on him.

"Start talkin'!" Barret said to the guard.

"Look, it's obvious you guys aren't here just to shoot up the place. There weren't any alarms about your arrival and yet here you are on the fifty-ninth floor. You're obviously here in search of something and you don't want to be caught. Let me help. You guys don't want to leave me unchecked and I don't want to die." The guard spoke in a now much more refined thinking pattern.

He had calmed himself from the earlier scene and was now thinking logically about his words.

After hearing him talk in his usual tone of voice, Tifa could've sworn that she heard him from somewhere before but couldn't put her finger on it. Cloud, on the other hand, knew that he had seen the weapons he was now carrying before. He was just unsure if they were the same ones since the ones he saw weren't in a bag. Finally, Barret could recall throwing somebody of the same stature as this guard and boy was it enjoyable.

"What do you think, Cloud?" Tifa questioned.

"Whatever gets us to Aeris in the end is better. That's all that matters." Cloud said in his usual cold tone.

"Well, how about it, mister Shinar employee? You know where our friend's at?" Barret asked while still holding his gun arm pointed at the guard.

"Aeris? Um… You mean that girl? I think… Hojo might have her. I think… That's either the sixty-sixth or maybe it was higher than that." The guard held his hand under his chin while he thought.

"This guy don't know anythin'! I'm done dealin' with him!" Barret was about to toss the guard out of the elevator when the guard held up his hands in protest.

"W-Wait! Let's just go to the sixty-sixth and check! O-Ok?" The guard pleaded with the group.

"Barret, just leave him. We'll go with his info and if it ends up being a trap then we handle it then." Cloud pushed the sixty-sixth floor button and the elevator started to ascend the floors.

"You got lucky for now!" Barret lowered his gun on the guard and went to face the elevator doors with Cloud. Tifa went ahead and stood at the ready on Cloud's other side.

The guard sighed in relief that the whole situation had calmed itself now.

"You gotta a name back there?" Barret asked the guard that was about to try and take a seat in the back of the elevator.

For a minute or so the guard seemed hesitant. Whether or not he was unwilling to share his real name with these invaders was unknown to them.

"Matthew… Yeah… Matthew Fox." The guard spoke his name and Tifa turned slowly back around.

"Matthew?" Tifa looked slightly puzzled at the guard in the back.

"Oh hey. Barkeep, right? Strange things do happen, eh? I would've never thought I'd see you again storming my work place." Matthew said.

"You know this guy, Tifa?" Barret turned around to face the guard along with Tifa.

"You threw him out remember?" Tifa said looking slightly displeased by remembering Barret's normal nature with her customers.

"Oh yeah! I was wonderin' why I wanted to pick you up and toss you so bad! I guess old habits really do die hard." Barret said almost laughing at whatever he thought to be funny.

"Don't be thinkin' we buddies now though cause we know your name. We're still enemies till the end. It's just easier to call you by a name is all." Barret said crossing his arms as he turned back around.

"Yeah… enemies till the end." Matthew said while slumping down to the cold floor in the back of the elevator.

With the conversation between them all now seemingly finished. The group waited in silence as the elevator ascended up.

The doors opened and the first one to go out was Matthew. Not on his own accordance of course. He was told to check around first before the others walked out.

"All clear." Matthew whispered to his group and they exited out cautiously.

The way was surprisingly clear and the group went to search around the area. Almost immediately, however, they were staring down a corridor observing all of the Shinra executives entering a meeting room.

The group saw out of all of the executives the President of Shinra himself. He was an older blonde man in a red business suit smoking a large cigar as he filed into the room with the rest of his cohorts.

"Wasn't that the President?" Barret asked his allies.

Matthew knew that Barret wasn't including him in who he was talking to so he stayed silent.

"It has to be. There's no way I'd forget his face." Cloud said while keeping himself hidden around the corner they were standing next too.

"We gotta get in there! They must be talkin' bout some important stuff!" Barret walked over and tried to listen through the doors in the meeting room.

It was an odd sight for all as a huge guy like Barret tried to bunker himself down near the door to hear through it. There was no possible way for him to do what he was doing in a subtle way because of his size.

"We're not going to hear anything like that!" Tifa said while pulling the giant Barret away from the doors to the meeting room.

"Then how do you s'pose we hear what they're talkin' bout!?" Barret shouted.

Tifa waved her hands and shushed Barret.

"Air vents?" Matthew suggested.

"You think I can fit in those tiny things?" Barret asked displeased at the thought of being in a small space.

"You'd be surprised." Matthew answered.

"How would we get in to them?" Cloud questioned Matthew.

"The bathrooms usually have them right over the toilets. It wouldn't be too hard to get in that way." Matthew replied to Cloud while pointing in the direction he figured would lead to the bathrooms.

The four went into the bathrooms and opened a stall. Sure enough, there was in fact a way into the vents above the toilet. Cloud took the lead and stood onto the toilet. He opened up the vent and climbed into it.

"I hate small spaces…" Barret shuddered as he looked at the size of the vent.

"Suck it up and get up there." Tifa pushed Barret forward without surprisingly little effort.

Against his better judgment, Barret shoved himself into the vents.

"You coming with?" Tifa asked Matthew.

"With that giant up there? Sorry, but those things aren't supposed to carry people around in them anyways. I'll avoid going over the carrying capacity. You guys go ahead. I'll wait here."

Tifa contemplated staying behind to make sure Matthew didn't run off to alert anyone but she decided to trust him. She climbed up into the air vent with the other two and left Matthew alone in the bathroom.

* * *

Ugh… How well is this going? Cloud doesn't give a crap about me. Tifa doesn't give a crap about me. And Barret considers me an enemy. Simply perfect.

I could've had them try and go straight to save Aeris but I figure this is better for the sake of things. They're going to hear a little about Shinra's plans and then we just have to go follow Hojo to Aeris.

Still can't believe Cloud is holding onto my weapons. That's a serious dilemma. I'll be glad to get them back. If that ever happens.

Man they're loud! I can hear them moving around in the air vents above me! I can even hear Barret's grumbling from down here! That is not a good sign for stealth! I hope they fix that when they get over the meeting room!

Back to my inner ramblings. I'm glad that I was able to keep Tifa away from my pockets. I have no idea what the PHS looks like in this world. It could be a giant box for all I know. My phone on its own could've been a foreign sight to them. Really dodged a potential bullet there.

To keep my sanity in check I'll just listen to the ending credit music from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. It's too catchy for me to pass up. I'll keep it on low so that I can hear them coming back down from the vent. Wouldn't want them to see me with ear buds in my ears.

I couldn't manage to refrain myself from whistling along with the tune of the music. It was a terrible habit of mine.

About half way through the music and I found myself less and less attentive to my surroundings. For once in the past two days I was truly relaxed. In a world that was filled with unusual things and even stranger people, I could find refuge thanks to some familiar music.

The song ended at about the same time that I heard the others climbing out of the vents. I turned off my iPod and pocketed my ear buds as fast as possible. I then stood at the ready to give chase to Hojo.

"Damn Shinra! Just when I think I can't hate them anymore they go and prove me wrong!" Barret was obviously mad about what he had heard in the meeting room.

"Save that anger for later. We have a scientist to be tailing." Cloud stated taking charge of the group unknowingly again.

We then filed out of the bathroom with Cloud in the front of us all.

"What are you guys anyways? Spies for a rival company or something?" I said trying to sound unaware of who they were.

"Like we'd tell you!" Barret shouted back to me.

"Just trying to figure out how lost my job is." I said dryly in the back of the group as we followed Hojo.

At this point, the amount of surveillance footage Shinra is going to have of me walking around with these guys is going to be astronomical. Once they figure out these guys are the terrorists, I'll be thrown in as an accomplice. There really isn't an option B for me at this point. Wish I would've thought this through a bit further.

We somehow managed to tail Hojo up to the sixty-seventh floor without him noticing us. We were following him all the way until he made a stop to look at what looks to be a large feline like creature in a large glass container. More than likely, that's Red XIII

Knowing that Hojo had stopped moving and could potentially notice us, Cloud had the rest of us duck behind something with him.

Hojo seemed to be staring at Red with a mischievous grin without muttering a single word. He was merely staring at him intensely.

"What's he doing?" Tifa quietly questioned.

Her answer was a shrug from both Barret and Cloud.

Soon enough, another person walked up to Hojo from the direction that we had come from.

"Is that today's specimen?" The new man asked Hojo.

"Yes, we're going to proceed right away. Raise it up to the next level." Hojo replied while now placing his hand against the container's glass.

The new man heard his orders and walked away in the direction he came from.

"My precious… specimen." Hojo sounded almost pleasured at saying the word specimen.

He continued his intense stare at Red before he walked off with a large grin on his face. Somehow, he didn't seem to notice us as he walked directly past us.

Seeing that the coast was all clear, Cloud gave the go ahead to exit our hiding spot.

Tifa made her way over to where Hojo was standing in front of Red's container and looked at him in it.

"Precious specimen? Is it going to be used in some kind of experiment?" She sounded concerned for Red as she looked back to the rest of us for an answer. Seeing that she wasn't getting one, she turned to look back at Red.

Cloud, for whatever reason, looked back at what we hid behind. He saw a door with a glass window on it that seemed to be illuminating a strange light. He walked closer to it and read what it had written below the window.

"Jenova…" Cloud peered deeper into the container for Jenova and saw what was inside.

Cloud backed away from Jenova's container and seemed to be having a violent headache. He practically collapsed to the ground when Tifa managed to hold him up.

Yeah… seeing a headless thing that has some of its cells in your body would do that.

"Jenova… Sephiroth's… So they've brought it here…" Cloud said while trying to regain his composure.

"Cloud, be strong!" Tifa was overwhelmed with worry for Cloud.

"Did you see it?" Cloud asked anybody that was listening.

"See what?" Barret questioned now taking his turn to look inside Jenova's container.

"It's moving… still alive?" Cloud was completely out of it.

"Where's its fucking head?! This whole thing is stupid! Let's get going." Barret was a little peeved as he walked ahead to a maintenance elevator.

"Is this just a usual day or…?" I asked Tifa whom was helping Cloud to his feet.

Cloud walked ahead seemingly fine now and Tifa sighed in slight relief.

"Not usually…" Tifa said almost sounding annoyed by my question.

She ran to catch up with the rest of the group leaving me behind them.

Still not following the rest of the group, I turned to look at Red whom was still on our current floor in his container. He looked at me with his good eye for a split moment. In that split moment I couldn't help but let a smile crack onto my face. After that, Red laid his head down onto his container's floor and he closed his eye.

Ah you'll be talking to me soon enough, buddy.

I went ahead towards the maintenance elevator where everyone was surprisingly waiting for me.

"Couldn't go on without me eh? I said feeling a little more wanted in the group.

"No, I was just thinkin' you was bout to run off. Couldn't let you do that so I was about to go grab you." Barret said as he now entered the maintenance elevator with Cloud and Tifa.

And now I feel not wanted again. Thank you kindly, Barret.

Usually, there was a save point and an item chest right here, right? What would an item chest look like now anyways?

I started to rummage around in random boxes near the entrance to the elevator.

"What are you doing, Matthew?" Tifa asked.

"Don't matter. He's just wastin' our time is all. Let's hurry up." Barret said trying to figure out how to work the elevator.

Something around here has to have something of use! I don't even remember what was in that box in the game anyways! I just know that there was one here Damnit!

Without many options left, I moved a few boxes out of the way to find a much smaller one behind them. Important contents inside was plastered all over the box.

If this doesn't have anything in it, I swear on my life I will punch something!

I cracked open the box, and surprisingly there was something inside! A small green materia! It had some dark green splotches inside it and it gave off a deadly feeling.

Poison? Huh… How did I almost forget about you little guy?

"Not much of a time waster now am I?" I said holding the materia up victoriously.

"We s'pose to pat you on the back for that? Get your Shinra ass in here!" Barret pulled me into the elevator with the rest of the group.

"Exactly how did you know that was there?" Cloud asked me.

"This is the science department. It's pretty obvious that they have materia stored around the place." I replied while placing the materia into my chocobracelet. One more slot left to go on this one.

"And you wanted to grab that why?" Tifa was now joining the question parade.

It's not like I know there's a boss battle coming up or anything.

It'll be easy to play this off though. They're terrorists for crying out loud! All I have to do is make it sound like I'm making assumptions.

"Are you kidding me?! You guys seem like you're going to do some heavy stuff! That big ass sword is a good tip off! I don't want to be defenseless! I mean… you are still carrying my weapons." I said while eyeing my bag still on Cloud's back.

"Funny… they don't seem to be yours anymore." Cloud stated the obvious which almost received some laughs from Barret.

Cloud can be pretty cruel sometimes.

We proceeded up to the next floor using this rickety elevator that felt like it might come apart at any second. Luckily for us, it didn't and we made it to the next floor.

Stepping out of the elevator, the first thing everybody saw was Aeris in a glass container. She was lying on the floor of the container either very tired or seriously hurt. The answer to which couldn't be figured out from where we were standing.

"Aeris!" Cloud called out.

"Aeris? Oh is that her name? What do you want?" Hojo asked sounding annoyed by our presence.

Nobody noticed him standing so close to Aeris' container until now. He was only revealed to be in the room when he spoke to us.

"We're taking Aeris back." Cloud stated as he got ready to fight with his buster sword.

"Outsiders…" Hojo said in a now slightly more upset tone of voice.

"Shoulda noticed it earlier, you…" Barret said as he inched himself closer to Hojo.

"There are so many frivolous things in this world." Hojo said in an almost trance like state. His attention was somewhere else completely.

By now Cloud has gotten close enough to where he could easily do a lunging attack for Hojo. Also, Barret has his gun arm pointed dead on the scientist.

"Are you going to kill me? I don't think you should. The equipment here is extremely delicate. Without me, who could operate it? Hmm?" Hojo asked the group with a sly grin.

"A bullet to the leg is fairly nonlethal and pretty persuasive, you know?" I pointed out to Barret.

"Kid has a point." Barret said before he lowered his aim to Hojo's legs.

Hojo snickered in the change of target.

"No matter where you shoot me, you run the chance of hitting some very delicate equipment." Hojo said in a daring manner.

Cloud groaned as he lowered his sword. Barret was reluctant but he started to follow suit.

"That's right. I'd recommend that you think about things a little more logically next time before you make any rash moves." Hojo spoke believing he was triumphant.

"Wait… If it's so important for you to be running the equipment. Then how come you're always just standing around?" I asked finally realizing that this scientist doesn't do jack.

"A clever MP… Perhaps if you had more potential, you would make a fine specimen. Shame that you are as useless as the rest." Hojo started to twist his body around.

Useless?! Says the guy that's standing around all the time!... Bitch…

"Bring in the specimen!" Hojo shouted to his assistant that was manning all of the controls.

What did I say? Hojo doesn't do jack.

The assistant followed the orders given to him and some loud moving noises could be heard coming from the floor below us. The middle of the floor in Aeris' container opened up almost causing her to fall. She managed to back away, however, as a platform rose up from below.

On that very platform was Red.

"Cloud, help!" Aeris shouted as she banged on the glass holding her in.

I should start a counter for how many times Aeris asks Cloud for help. It's kind of becoming her catchphrase.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Cloud asked Hojo. He was pissed by what was happening.

"Simply lending a helping hand to an endangered species… Both of them are on the brink of extinction… If I don't help, all these animals will disappear." Hojo spoke as if there was no possibility that he could be doing something bad. That he was the hero in this story and that what he was doing and will be doing would be right.

I never understood the logic behind this!? Is he trying to have Aeris and Red repopulate!? Stuff doesn't work like that!

"Do you know how biology works!? Because you sound like you don't!" I yelled to Hojo.

"There you go proving my thoughts on you. Useless as could be. There are ways around all barriers. These animals breeding is no different." Hojo said as he started to chuckle.

"…Animal!? That's terrible! Aeris is a human being." Tifa tried to reason with the mad scientist. A pointless attempt.

"You're gonna pay!" Barret said as he was about to march over to Hojo.

"Barret! Can't you do anything?!" Cloud stopped Barret and pleaded with him. It's an unusual sight indeed. I can see why it managed to stop the bear Barret.

"Awright! Step back!" Barret aimed his gun arm at the glass container.

"Stop!" Hojo shouted in desperation just before Barret started to unload bullets into the container.

My lord! How many bullets does he have to shoot!? He just keeps going and going!

As Barret unloaded a load of bullets into the container, it started to glow violently bright. Seeing this happening, Barret backed off.

The glass seemed hardly damaged. Some bullet holes here and there we're definitely there but the glass didn't shatter.

That didn't seem to put Hojo's mind at ease. He ran to the container in an almost stumbling charge. He caught himself against the front of the container and he pressed his face against it to try to see inside.

"Wh… What are you do… Oh! My precious specimens…" Hojo started to press in a passcode in a keypad on the side of the container. He pressed enter on it and the door slid open.

When the door slid open a number of things happened. First the light died down to reveal both Red and Aeris still inside it unharmed. The next thing to happen was Red pouncing onto Hojo.

The crazy lion creature dug into the scientist with his claws and even took a bite at him. Everyone else in the room took a few steps back to not antagonize Red.

Seeing that the door was now open, Cloud went into the container to help Aeris.

Aeris was in slight shock from everything that had happened. She was lying on the floor of the container in an attempt to regain her senses.

Cloud helped her up to her feet and she patted off her clothes.

"Thanks, Cloud." Aeris thanked him and came outside to where Barret, Tifa and I was standing.

"Who's the new guy?" Aeris questioned Barret and Tifa.

"Some punk we've taken as a sort of hostage." Barret forced out of his mouth.

"Hostage? I'd hardly call myself that. I'm more of a "guy that doesn't want to get shot for running away" person." I plainly stated.

"Oh. Well, I hope you haven't been hurt in any sort of way." Aeris said while sounding concerned.

This girl man. Always thinking about others before herself. She was just in a room with what looked like a foreign and feral creature. She was technically shot at by a guy with a gun arm. Yet, here she is hoping that someone she doesn't even know wasn't hurt. It's nice to know there's someone like her.

"Cloud… is there something wrong?" Tifa asked noticing that Cloud was still in the container.

"The elevator is moving." Cloud informed us.

Now that he mentions it. There was a noise in the room similar to when Red's platform came up.

Seemingly satisfied with his mauling, Red released Hojo. Hojo crawled away from him and held onto his shoulder which had a bite mark in it.

"This is no ordinary specimen. This is a very ferocious specimen." Hojo said almost laughing a little at the end.

"He's rather strong. I'll lend you my assistance." Red turned around to face the rest of us and spoke calmly.

The jaw drops were real. Both Aeris and Tifa were more than surprised by Red's ability to talk.

"It talked?!" Tifa exclaimed.

"I'll talk as much as you want later, Miss." Red said.

"We'll take care of that monster. Somebody take Aeris to safety. Barret, I'm counting on you." Cloud spoke while backing out of the container with his buster sword at the ready.

Barret was about to grab a hold of an unwilling Aeris when I interjected.

"H-Hang on. You're going to divide you're manpower right now!? Having two people run off on their own in this place is pretty dangerous for you guys. It'd be better if you all stuck together." I pointed out to all of them.

This isn't the game anymore. There's no three man limitation to battles. There's no point in dividing forces. Besides, having Barret and Aeris run off somewhere will only cause problems.

"Kid, the spikey blonde head already spoke. We're goin' and you had better help 'em out." Barret said before he pulled Aeris away with him.

How wonderful… Let's have the cat, the guy that thinks he's SOLDIER, the barkeep, and the guy that's never fought once in his life fight the giant freak experiment. Lovely…

With Barret and Aeris now out of the room, the rest of us got in a line in front of the container.

"Is asking for my weapons now a bad idea?" I asked Cloud.

"Take them and try to stay out of the way." Cloud said while handing me my bag holding my weapons.

Thank you… Thank you so much. My confidence was pretty low with only this handgun.

"What's your name?" Cloud asked Red.

"Hojo has named me Red XIII. A name that has no meaning whatsoever to me. Call me whatever you wish." Red stated in a relaxed matter.

"It's here!" Tifa shouted.

Kind of standing right next to you here…

She wasn't wrong though. A grotesque creature started to show it's head as the elevator continued to rise.

Is that even a head!? I can't tell but it has a huge mouth with crazily sharp teeth as a shoulder. One of its arms seemed to be thin with multiple tendrils while the other was much larger.

As the elevator was rising, it just stopped. The creature was too big to fit through the small hole! Woohoo!

"The thing's stuck! Let's go over and just keep whacking it's head until it dies!" I exclaimed joyfully as I pulled out my halberd.

I made my approach over to the experiment stuck in the ground in an almost skip walk. I thought that I was going to get my ass handed to me by this thing but here it is stuck! What a great turn of events!

"Get back!" Cloud shouted to me from where he was still standing. The rest of the group was also standing back with him still ready for a fight.

I turned around and was looking almost delighted.

"What's the problem? The guy's stuck. He's not getting unstuck for a good-" Before I could finish what I was saying, the ground started to tremor.

The beast was breaking the ground around him! The hole that was originally too small for him to fit through has now expanded! The creature pulled itself up to our current floor and stood only a few feet away from me.

The thing was a giant! It was at least ten feet tall and its arms we're just as long as the rest of its body.

The creature raised its large arm up into the air and I could tell what was going to happen next.

"Fuck me." I said just before the experiment brought its burly arm crashing into my side.

The force of the attack sent me hurling to the side until I crashed into some machinery. So much for not damaging delicate equipment.

That thing hits like a truck! Both of my sides are crying out in agonizing pain.

The rest of the group saw what happened to me and Tifa was coming over to more than likely heal me.

"No problem… I've gotten my own since last time." I said as I waved Tifa away.

She nodded to show that she understood and went back to the others.

Please… Please let me able to use cure.

I held my left hand on my side as I focused as hard as I could to try and heal myself. All of a sudden a light started to emit itself from my hand and it covered my body. A soothing feeling covered my body and the pain left me with the green light.

Mission accomplished! I used a spell for once!

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but I do feel a little more fatigued than before. I guess that's the magic taxing my body.

But how hard is this fight going to be if one hit practically put me out of the fight?! I know I'm weak but this thing must be-

As I was thinking of how strong this experiment must be in real life, I saw the beast swing its large arm down in a vertical strike for Cloud. It's going to crush him!

Seeing the beast about to attack him, Cloud brought his buster sword over his head and held it vertically with both of his hands.

The experiment slammed its arm into Cloud's sword and it seemed to have little effect. Cloud blocked that thing's attack!

Holy hell… Being infused with Mako is badass.

While it held its arm against Cloud's sword, Red casted fire at it. A fireball shot out and slammed into the creature's legs causing it to stagger back.

Tifa then jumped forward and delivered a devastating flying kick into the experiment. The large creature was sent even further back in response.

These guys are unreal! I'm nothing in comparison to them!

After being attacked twice, the creature let out what sounded like an enraged howl.

The mouth on the creature's shoulder opened up and little spider like creatures with only one eye ball crawled out of it. There had to be at least five or six of them.

The spider like creatures crawled off of the giant experiment and formed a semi line in front of it. They were separating Cloud, Tifa, and Red from the experiment.

"Red, you and Matt are going to take care of the little ones. Tifa, you and I are taking out the big guy." Cloud ordered.

"M-Me?" I squeaked out.

"Looks like it's you and me then." Red plainly said next to me.

He was fast! I didn't even notice him run over to me.

Knowing that there was no other option, I pulled out my halberd and took the chance to try a combat pose.

While I awkwardly stood pointing a halberd, Red was keeping his body low to the ground. He was ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Cloud and Tifa, on the other hand, were waiting for me and Red to initiate the fight. Or they were at least waiting for the experiments to.

Seeing that Red wasn't going to start the fight, I guess they're all waiting on me.

They're just little spider things right? No shame in attacking those things. They're just some kind of man made creation.

After bolstering my confidence, I held my halberd over my shoulder and charged forward.

I would let out a battle cry but that might make others feel awkward.

Red was close behind me and I felt like I was actually faster than him. Maybe he just wanted me to go in first. That's kind of rude.

Either way, I'm going to continue my charge and just try to not fuck up.

During my charge the creatures seemed to recognize me as a threat so they started to converge towards me.

I was soon within range of the now swarming creatures and I swung my halberd straight down into it.

That didn't work so well when the swarm merely split away from my attack.

One of the creatures ran up my leg before I had to a chance to react.

Ugh! It's like a giant bug! Get it off!

I shook my leg in an attempt to rid the creature from my leg but it held on for dear life.

In the meantime, Red had managed to pounce onto one of the creatures and was now tearing it apart.

BITE

Ow! The little bastard bug bit me or something! It's munching on my leg! His friends look ready to do the same thing too!

Instictively, I grabbed my handgun off my side while still holding onto my halberd within my other hand.

I pointed the gun point blank at the creature and shot a round right into it.

Thankfully, the bullet did its job and killed the monstrosity of a thing. That little guy did do a number on my leg though. A good bite mark is very much present on my calf.

Red finished mauling his target and we were ready to face off against the others.

Said targets weren't equally ready, however, as they noticed the trouble their leader was in.

Cloud had the boss pinned against the wall. The only problem at the moment was the fact that Tifa had been grappled by the creature's tendrils.

That changed quickly when Cloud did a giant leap and sliced straight through the monster's left arm that housed the tendrils.

Tifa fell safely to the ground and tried to regain her stature to continue fighting.

The creature retaliated against Cloud and swung it's burly arm into him.

It connected and managed to send him back a few feet but he recovered quickly.

Seeing all of this happening, the little ones started to run towards Cloud.

"Hey! Get back here!" I shouted as I went to chase after them.

"Cut them off!" Red shouted from behind.

Again, he was further behind than me and I couldn't understand why.

Nonetheless, I increased my running speed and cut in front of the little things paths.

One of them let out a screeching noise before it proceeded to jump towards me.

In defense, I rose my halberd and the monster impaled itself on it. That was lucky…

The few remaining creatures started to run by me at the same time that Red managed to catch up.

In an effort to stop at least one he casted fire and shot a fireball right into one. The little bug like creature was singed in seconds while the others continued to run.

Damn you little bastards!

Not wanting them to escape, I started to try and cast my fireball.

I still had my halberd pointed at the creatures and it soon started to heat up. A few seconds later and a fireball shot itself out from the tip of it.

The ball of flames flew true as it struck one of the experiments and roasted it to a crisp.

With only one final thing left and not a whole lot of energy left for magic, I pointed my handgun at it and steadied my aim.

At this point it was almost within leaping distance of Cloud as he continued to fight the bigger experiment.

I took a deep breath and shot a round at it to hopefully kill it.

The bullet flew straight into the top of the experiment and it died instantaneously.

Yeah! Killed a bunch of little bug things!... Woo!...

I don't feel that accomplished. It's not like I fought the actual boss. All I did was take out his lackeys.

W-Wait! The boss is still alive! Crap!

At my sudden realization, the large experiment fell to the ground causing a large thud to echo through the area. It was seemingly dead.

Well… he was still alive.

Cloud did a few twirls with his buster sword before attaching it to his back victoriously.

Tifa patted herself off and proceeded to regroup with Cloud.

Meanwhile Red and I were standing off to the side awaiting further orders.

Huh… I wonder who got the crap beat out of them more.

Cloud looks like he has a few bruises but other than that he's perfectly fine and ready for another fight.

Tifa looks like she might have a scratch or two but she's otherwise ok.

Red is completely ok. Not a single thing seemed to have hit him.

I, on the other, hand, have a pretty large bite mark on my leg from that bitch of a bug.

Hurts like hell too.

"You going to take care of that?" Red questioned me while looking at my bleeding leg.

Right! Cure and all. I can just heal away the pain. Stuff like that isn't fully branded into my mind yet.

I knelt down to my leg and sure enough was able to cast cure successfully. My leg was fully healed and felt as good as new.

My head, however, was starting to feel a little light. I had some slight trouble standing up straight.

"You had better take it easy. That amount of magic usage seems to be too much for your body." Red explained.

"Yeah… I didn't think I'd be getting tired this quick." I said while still wobbling around.

"Alright, now we need to go find Barret and Aeris as soon as possible." Cloud said now heading over to the maintenance elevator where they went down.

If we listened to me, we wouldn't have to go look for anybody.

Funny enough, I'm pretty sure they were supposed to come back to us only to be split up again. But I guess this is one of the many differences from the game.

My bitching aside, we still went down the elevator and started our search.

We were walking by Jenova's container when we spotted a burly man in a green suit with a very large beard walking towards us.

Uh… Heidegger? That's just who he looks like to me. Dear lord though! Is he bigger than Barret?! I didn't think anybody was larger than him!

He hasn't seemed to notice us yet and that's a god thing. Some of our group definitely don't belong.

Without a second to spare, I shooed the others down another path before Heidegger could get a better look at them.

"You there! Soldier! Where is that damned scientist at?!" Heidegger yelled towards me and I'm guessing that he was yelling at me.

"Um… W-What scientist?" I asked while slowly turning around to face him.

He closed the distance between us and he was towering over me. And I'm not a short person!

He looked past me and then back down to me.

"Where are those others that were behind you?" He asked in a rough tone of voice.

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about, sir." I said while feigning ignorance.

He gave me a piercing look as he let out a slight growl it sounded like.

"Alright… Now, where's that damn scientist Hojo at!?" He shouted trying to get me to answer faster.

"I-I'm not sure, sir! He doesn't appear to be here!" I said feeling a little bit of fear start to build up in me. He's that intimidating. I would not want to go ten rounds in a ring with him.

"Tch! What's your name, soldier!?" He yelled directly in my ears.

"M-Matthew Fox!" I said in a scared shiver.

Lying to him didn't even cross my mind.

"Ohoho! Gya haa haa! I've been waiting to get a good look of you!" He said while he straightened his back out to let himself stand even higher.

He knows about me? C-Crap. That's not a good thing if you ask me.

"S-Sir?" I said while backing up a little.

"Damn Turk gave you some praise? Gya haa haa haa! You look like a terrified chicken!"

Damnit Reno! This is your fault! I just know it!

Before I knew it, Heidegger had placed both his hand s on my shoulders. It wasn't in a friendly way either. He was squeezing hard on my shoulders as he started to lift me up.

"It's cause of you that he insulted my department! You'll do good to make sure that doesn't happen again!" He yelled as he fully lifted me over his head.

"W-Wait!" I leaded before being tossed into some boxes.

I crashed straight through at least three boxes before I came to a full stop.

This is not how you treat your employees, kids.

"Gya haa haa haa!" Heidegger laughed as he walked away.

He could be heard going further and further away as the laughing somehow got quieter and quieter.

Ugh… This is not my day…

* * *

**Another chapter out of the park!**

**Lots and lots of things happened in this chapter.**

**New point of views are always new.**

**For once we have some actual interactions with other canon characters besides Reno.**

**We had some legitimate action that didn't involve barrels.**

**And some other stuff that I'm too lazy to talk about… or am I!?**

**No, I am.**

**Remember to leave some kind of review on what you liked/disliked! It helps me to improve!**


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